Reunited
by Ramona Bandicoot
Summary: New flames are ignited when old enemies resurface with a vengeance. With their lives on the line, rival thieves must come together to keep each other alive and to bring down their enemies before their enemies come out as the triumphant ones.
1. Chapter 1: Life's a Beach

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own and Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_Finally got another story idea! However, there are a few things that are different in this story than any of my others. First of all, the point of view will change repeatedly! I'm doing this for both a slight change in my stories and the way I want this story to go will depend on it and don't worry I will make it clear who the point of view is from. Secondly, this will be a crossover story between Sly Cooper and the Crash Bandicoot games. Granted, it won't be in the crossover section until a few chapters are up but it will eventually go into that section. And finally, I'm planning on making this the longest story I've posted so far so I'm hoping that'll come true. So, please read and review and let me know what you think of it so far! And I know this chapter is short but they should get longer as the story goes on._

Reunited

Chapter 1: Life's a Beach

I sighed happily as I finally allowed myself to settle into the beach chair resting quietly underneath an umbrella. It had been months since I could actually sit back and relax and I was determined for this to go smoothly. I was tired of Paris and decided to go back home for my long needed vacation. I always found Australian beaches better than the ones you could find anywhere in the United States or any other country for that matter. They were clean, the water was clear near the beach and dark blue the farther out you went, the sand was a soft yellow, and the fact that my vacation home rested only a few feet from the beaches only made me give it a higher rating. I loved coming back home for a vacation, it always reminded me of my childhood before it was corrupted by Cortex.

I pulled my sunglasses down on my face after throwing my ponytail over the back of my beach chair. Even though I couldn't tan because of my fur color, I had put on my bikini a while ago to warm my fur and the skin underneath. I looked around at the scene in front of me and felt at peace. The ocean was directly in front of my beach chair, my house was behind me in the shade of the trees, to my left the geyser was spewing water and multicolored fish from the top which only led the fish back into the ocean from there. Fruit trees were next to geyser and various animals crawling through them while a flock of Ramona birds soared high in the sky. I could faintly make out the silhouette of one of my younger brothers in the distance while a small chick strutted by my chair. The local beach was always littered with chickens, thanks to my brother's love of the birds, but they were never a bother. I could see the ruins of the large tiki statues to my right and noticed the same pelican that I had battled with for my lunch sitting on top. Centuries before my family ever lived here, this island was inhabited with natives that had apparently died off a while ago. Their ruins were littered across the island but I was still convinced there were a few tribes around.

I yawned and closed my eyes aver overlooking the beach. I'd take a quick nap and then turn onto my stomach to warm my back. I had just started drifting off to sleep when my sunglasses were knocked off my face by a beach ball. I brushed my now disturbed bangs from my face before picking up the glasses and beach ball. I looked to the direction where the ball had come from and could see my sister running towards me. The fox eventually came to a stop next to my chair and took the ball from my grasp.

"Sorry, Ramona," Charlotte muttered, "I'm not too good at aiming." I handed her back the beach ball and chuckled. Charlotte was always fun to be around but the girl was the worst aimer I had ever seen in my life. She scampered off down the beach and I went back to my sun bathing. The sun was at the perfect time of day, it wasn't directly over the beach to it was too hot and it wasn't so late so that the sun was blinding someone when they looked at the beach.

I breathed in deeply and could smell the scent of a charcoal grill cooking something. The siblings that I had that were thieves like myself had decided to come to one part of the beach to grill out and enjoy each others company on the first day of our vacation. The smell of grilling burgers made my stomach start grumbling but I couldn't do anything about it yet. The sound of a jet ski on the water filled my ears and everything was making me start to drift of to sleep. I stretched in my chair and yawned again as my eyes closed. Everything was peaceful until I heard my sister screech somewhere down the beach. It wasn't the type of screech that made me think she was in trouble but it sounded like she had just tripped over something; typical Charlotte. The girl was incredibly smart but the biggest klutz in the world. When everything was silent once again, I was drifting off to sleep in the warm sun.

I had finally dozed off lightly when I felt a sharp sting in my side. The sharp sting quickly turned into an electrifying jolt and I shrieked in pain. I rolled off of my chair and landed harshly on my back onto the soft sand. I tried to sit up to what had hit my side but I was completely frozen in place. I couldn't move anything, not even my tail, but I could move my eyes around and breathe. My fingers were twisted so they looked like claws and I could tell the right side of my upper lip was twitching slightly from the shock. I still tried to move until a shadow loomed over me. I look up and my stomach twisted into knots when I saw who it was. I watched as my attacker put away their shock pistol and gave a twisted smile.

"Sleep my insipid angel." The shadow cooed before some sort of fabric covered my body, leaving me in complete darkness.


	2. Chapter 2: A Chase Cut Short

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own and Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

Well here's chapter 2! And again I'm sorry that it's a little short but it's just getting started and it'll get longer as it progresses. And yes, the point of view did change and it will change quite often. But I won't do the point of view from a ton of characters. It'll be in 3 points of views so it won't be too confusing but it will change. So, please read and review and let me know what you think!

Chapter 2: A Chase Cut Short

"Cooper!" I shouted as I watched Sly Cooper bolt out the doors to the local history museum. I had just gotten through the threshold of the building before firing off five or six shots from my shock pistol. I growled loudly when he dodged every bullet and they ended up impacting the side of a building. I took off after him, shooting towards him the entire time but only to have the bullets hit against random objects and not the raccoon. I watched as he started climbing up a drain pipe and I followed quickly via the fire escape. I placed my pistol in the holster while quickly climbing up the fire escape. My uniform boots pounded against the metal rungs of the ladder and he was still ahead of me. I growled again when I missed one of the rungs and nearly slipped down one of the ladders but I regained my grasp. That, along with many other reasons, was why I absolutely hated chasing that blasted raccoon at night. I finally reached the top of the building and came to a stop on the opposite side of the thief.

"Freeze!" I roared as I pulled my pistol from the holster again and pointed it towards him. I took my usual defensive stance and got ready to shoot off more rounds at the raccoon. My eyes narrowed when he turned around with a smirk covering his face.

"Hands up, Cooper!" he replied by simply leaning on his family's cane and a moronic smile spread across his smug face.

"Well," I he started, "I was wondering what had happened to you, Inspector. I haven't seen you in a while, I was getting worried." I rolled my eyes and placed a finger on the trigger of my shock pistol.

"Don't give me that, Cooper. You've been robbing places blind and I'm bringing you to justice. All law breakers go to jail eventually and now it's your turn. So put your hands up! Now!" I shouted in his direction. He lifted his paws slightly in the air before chuckling and putting them back down. I growled again and out feel my fur start to bristle. I didn't normally let my emotions show while on a chase but after already having a pretty bad day and chasing Cooper was the last thing I wanted to do.

"You know," he said in his usual mocking tone, "you look really pretty when you're angry, did you know that?" he smirked again and my anger started to rise again.

"Shut up, Cooper!" I shouted. I fired a shot in his direction but he dodged it.

"Now Inspector there really is no need for weapons." he mocked again and I fired off another couple of shots before he bolted off again. I chased after him quickly, firing off more shots the entire time. He sprinted ahead of me and I ran after his as fast as I could. Each time he turned his head to face me briefly I fired off shots each time he either made a flirty of sarcastic comment. He darted behind a building and I was right on his tail. I placed my finger on the trigger again was ready to fire a final shot that would put him in custody when I felt something ram into me head on. Whatever it was knocked me to the ground and I dropped my gun.

I felt the wind leave my lungs briefly and I sucked in air in an attempt to breathe. I was dazed but I felt some sort pillow case or possibly a sack of some sort come over my head and blocked my vision of anything. Before I could pull it off and go for my gun I felt my arms bend behind my back and my own handcuffs were used to bind them together. I was yanked up roughly by both arms and swiftly pulled back into what I could only assume was another alley. I started ramming against my attackers and kicking as hard as I could. I couldn't see but I could hear everything that was going on around. I swung my leg and my foot impacted against something and quickly after I heard a groan. I could only assume I had kicked someone in the stomach, or lower, but I was still being yanked around. I smiled behind my mask and kept struggling against my attackers. There had to be at least two of them and possibly more but there were at least two. I had no idea where I was being led or where I was for that matter but I knew this wasn't good.

"Can't we just leave this one? She's too feisty!" one of the men shouted. His voice was winey and somewhat mouse like.

"No you idiot!" the other one shouted. His voice was a lot deeper and his grip on my arms was stronger, "The boss wants all of them! If we don't give him all twelve we'll be the ones in trouble!"

"Well we'd better get paid good money for this," the weaker one whined out, "That last one was meaner than this one."

"We'll get paid once we give the boss all twelve. We have three left and then we get paid now quit your whining and open the car." The one with the deeper voice ordered. I felt the man on my left release my arms but it was quickly grabbed by the other man.

I heard a van door open and I started kicking even harder. And with my luck nothing happened but the grip on my arms tightened. I finally stopped walking and I tried to shake the cloth off of my head but it was a useless effort. In my struggling in felt a sudden pain in my side. The pain quickly turned to an electrifying jolt and I couldn't help but shriek. I fell backwards and felt my head slam against the concrete. The cloth was quickly pulled up from my face and I looked at the two morons that had grabbed me. I felt my anger start to rise when I recognized the two men. I got ready to jump up and beat the life out of the two but I realized I couldn't move. I could breathe and move my eyes around but that was it. I couldn't move my arms, legs, tail, anything. I could feel my ears start to twitch slightly but the more I looked at the men the angrier I got. The larger of the two men smirked before pulling the bag back over my face and I was surrounded in darkness again.


	3. Chapter 3: Captivity

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own and Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

Chapter 3! And again this only going to have 3 points of view in it and the last one will be in chapter 4. And I won't change this into a crossover until chapter 5, just a little update. But the chapters will get longer in a few more chapters but it's still starting out. So please read and review and let me know what you think!

Chapter 3: Captivity

I struggled against my handcuffs as I was walked roughly down the corridor. It had been hours since I was taken from my vacation spot and I had finally regained the ability to move again. I had also been given a change of clothes so I wouldn't be forced to waltz around in a swimsuit but the new outfit made me feel like a prisoner. Neon orange jumpsuits definitely weren't my choice of fashion. I rammed against one of the guards keeping a hold on me when I was jerked forward roughly. I guard chuckled and slung me forward once again. I growled at both the guards and the smaller of the two started to sweat.

"Keep moving, raccoon," the larger one barked, "You've got a meeting with our boss." I glared at the man and felt my fur bristle.

"Oh really," I sneered, "and who's your boss?" I knew who it was. I knew good and well who these men worked for but I had no motive behind their sudden urge to rob me of a perfectly good vacation.

"Don't give me that Bandicoot; you know who we work for. And you've even dealt with Pinstripe over there on more than one occasion." I glanced to the smaller of the two rats. The large one was right; I'd dealt with Pinstripe Portoroo on multiple occasions. They were mob men that usually cowered behind cigar smoke and a machine gun. I snorted and kept walking. I heard my chains clink behind me as the two rats opened a set of double doors. I cringed as I recognized the room. It was large and barely had anything in it. There was a desk, a rolling chair, and one large stained glass window behind it. I snarled at the larger man after I was shoved once again and he replied with a smirk. He held me in place while the other mob man chained my ankle to a ring on the floor. I slumped down quickly and shot a glance to the two men.

"You stay here, Bandicoot," the man ordered while turning, "Not that you have a choice." He smirked one last time before striding towards the door. I huffed out a breath and turned my attention to my ankle restraints. I looked at the locked and tried to think of a way to pick it. I didn't have my lock picking kit or anything to use to jimmy it open. I yanked my leg to try and pull the chain from the ring but the links were too big. I ran my claws over the lock and thought with a sigh. I stretched out on the floor and groaned loudly. I stared up at the ceiling and watched the ceiling fan spin.

"And to think I could be lying on a beach right now." I muttered. The one time I wanted to take a peaceful vacation with no police, no enemies trying to kill me, no Cooper, absolutely nothing but me, a beach, and a week to do whatever I wanted, just had to be ruined. I turned my head when I could hear familiar shouting coming from the hallway I had just entered through. A moment later I saw my overly angered sister being forced in the room.

"Let me go!" she shouted, "I swear I'll beat you so hard your _grandkids_ will have a limp!" she roared out her threats while kicking her legs wildly. Like myself, she was wearing an orange jumpsuit that was way too big for her. I watched silently as they chained her to the floor like they did to me and left.

Carmelita started yanking against her chains and mumbling to herself. The only good side to this was knowing that if Carmelita, the next to the highest in command at the Interpol office, was here then there was no way she could be behind this. I kept watching the ticked off fox rant, kick and pull at her chains, look around, and growl. It wasn't until she had eventually given up a good twenty minutes later when she realized I was sprawled out next to her. I smiled and waved when she glanced over to me and she groaned.

"What are you doing here, Ramona?" she whined. I sat up and shrugged.

"I don't know," I muttered, "one minute I'm sitting on the beach and they next thing I know I'm frozen and being shoved in the back of a van with a bag over my face. What's your story?"

"I was in the middle of chasing Cooper when I got punched and pretty much the same as you." I raised an eyebrow and hummed quickly.

"Strange," I mumbled, "Have you found out anything?" she shrugged.

"I heard them talk about, 'getting all twelve for the boss'," she mocked, "And as far as I know you could have something to do with this." she squinted and my ears fell flat across my skull. I punched her harshly in the arm and scoffed.

"Look Princess," I hissed, "I'm stuck here too so don't blame me for this!" she rubbed her arm where I had punched her and punched me back.

"I'm just being cautious, Ramona." I rolled my eyes and thought. 'Getting all twelve for the boss', Carmelita's comment rang through my head.

"What do you think by 'Getting all twelve for the boss'?" I asked after she sat down beside me.

"I'm not sure," she shrugged, "They also said they needed three more, whatever that means." We sighed and stretched out on the floor.

"Was anyone else on the beach with you?" my sister inquired and I nodded.

"Charlotte, Sitka, and Crash was somewhere in the water." She twiddled her thumbs together and thought.

"Were you the only one taken? If the rest of them were kidnapped as well we might have a pattern."

"I heard Charlotte screech but I didn't think anything of it. She could trip over sand." Carmelita snorted in laughter and it thought.

"Twelve," I repeated, "and three left to get. The two of us were brought here and I'm pretty sure everyone on the beach was also…" I trailed off when something clicked, "Wait a minute!" I shouted as I sat up.

"What? Did you forget threaten someone on your way here?" she asked sarcastically.

"No," I spun on my knees and faced my twin, "there are twelve of us, right?' I was referencing to the two of us and the rest of our siblings. Carmelita nodded slowly and sat up. I brushed the hair from my face and continued, "You don't think they mean us, do you?"

"I don't know…it's a possibility, but what would they want with us?" I shrugged.

"There's no telling with our luck, Mel." She nodded and got ready to speak again when we were silenced by the main doors being shoved open. We craned out necks to see who it was and quickly went on the defensive as soon as our eyes landed on his smug face. Our ear flattened, eyes narrowed, fangs barring, hisses escaping our throats, and claws drawn as the man stepped farther into the room and we got ready to pounce on this overly arrogant, proud, and purely evil man.

_And for the record, the name Pinstripe Portoroo is an actually character from the Crash Bandicoot games and not my own characters…just wanted to throw that out there. (:_


	4. Chapter 4: Missing in Action

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own and Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

Alright, chapter 4 is up! And I'm turning the story into a crossover when I post chapter 5. So, if you want to keep reading it, look under the crossover section or just go to my profile and it'll be on there. I had intended for this chapter to be longer but when I got done typing it turned out to be a lot shorter and I'm determined NOT to combine two chapters! That is my goal for this story! But anyway, please read and review and let me know what you think about it so far along with suggestions or questions about the story. And by the way, this is the third point of view so the story will either be in Sly's, Carmelita's, or Ramona's…just throwing that out there.

Chapter 4: Missing in Action

"Sly!" even in my sleep I heard Bentley screech out my name, "For the last time, get up!" I groaned and rubbed my paws over my face. One day off in two weeks and Bentley has my getting up at noon.

"Alright, I'm up! I'm up!" I shouted from my bedroom and tried to take any strength I had to get up and out of the bed. I yawned a few more times before sitting up fully and stretching. I eventually trudged out of my bedroom and flopped down on the living room couch. I rested my head on the back of the couch and closed my eyes; wanting nothing more than to fall back asleep.

"Sly," Bentley said from the other side of the room, "Look alive!" I groaned again and opened my eyes again.

"Bentley," I whined, "It's a Saturday, all I want to do is sleep before I go back out on another job." He scoffed and I rolled my head off of the back of the couch.

"That's why you're up! We have to go over the plans before you go back out." I knitted my eyebrows together.

"I don't go back out until Thursday, why are you planning now?" he shook his head.

"Nope. With Ramona on vacation they'll be no obstacles in your way for a week! Get out there and knock her down from the top of the totem pole!" he exclaimed.

"Inspector Fox is still hot on my tail, Bentley. She'll find someway to crash the mission." I chuckled at the thought and closed my eyes again. Again, Bentley scoffed and I perked my ears to hear his response.

"I don't think so. Have you seen the paper today?" I shook my head and listened again. Bentley was usually over confident about his plans and I had learned to just smile and nod occasionally.

"No, is she preoccupied with another case?" I chuckled. Carmelita was always busy with a case and it wouldn't surprise me if she had taken on another.

"Not this time," Bentley remarked, "This time _she's_ the case." I quickly opened my eyes and lifted my head from the couch. My eyebrows knitted together again.

"What do you mean?" I asked. He handed me the newspaper from this morning and read over the article in question, "Let's see…" I mumbled as I read over the headline, "Local Paris officer missing since Monday." I folded the paper in half and kept reading.

"Keep reading," Bentley said, "it gets stranger."

"Inspector Carmelita Fox was last seen Monday evening once she left the Interpol office to pursue a chase on Master Thief Sly Cooper. Great…" I muttered, "I'm involved." I shook my head and kept reading, "…Cooper wasn't caught and there was no other sign from Miss Fox…" I scanned over the rest of the article and found another piece of interesting information, "Along with the mysterious disappearance of Inspector Fox, Carlos Fox, Nick Fox, and Daniel Fox, all brothers of the Inspector, have also been reported missing. There had been no sign of the missing Interpol officers and updates will be printed." I scanned to the pictures of the missing officers and thought. I threw the paper on the couch and thought.

Monday night, that was the last time I had seen the fiery fox and I remembered that she had just suddenly stopped chasing me after we had reached an alley. I had gone back to make sure she hadn't fallen or anything but she simply wasn't there. The alley was empty and quiet. At the time, I figured she had simply lost sight of me but now I was starting to second guess my original thoughts. I threw the paper out the couch and thought. I found it strange that not only was Carmelita missing, but her brothers were missing as well. If four people from family were missing, could it mean that even the thieves from the same family could have gone missing as well? I knew they wouldn't put an article on a missing thief in the newspaper but since Ramona was on vacation, it would be difficult to get in touch with her face to face.

"You don't think something might have happened to Ramona and the thieving side of her family, do you?" I asked Bentley and he stopped typing away at his computer.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "It's possible but then again she's on her vacation. There's no telling where she is or what she's doing for that matter." I nodded and stood. I figured I'd try to call her and see if she knew anything about her sisters disappearance or if she was safe herself. I had to be honest though, Carmelita's disappearance was a shock. She was a tough woman and her brothers were even tougher than her. Someone had to have worked with a partner if they were kidnapped but then again, there was no proof of foul play. I still thought as I slid my phone from the dresser and searched for Ramona's number. I eventually found it in my contacts and put the phone on speaker when I clicked 'call'. I was expecting a ring but instead a series of beeps followed. My mind really started racing when an automated message started playing.

"We're sorry, but the number you are trying to reach had been disconnected." The phone call ended with that and I tossed my phone on the bed. How could her number no longer be in service? I had just called her Monday night when she left for her vacation and it worked fine. Now, almost a week later it wasn't working. Something strange was going on and not to my surprise it involved the Bandicoot family.

There was no telling what could possibly be going on this time but whatever it was had to be pretty deep. Carmelita was never pulled into problems with Ramona, unless it involved Inspector Fox trying to arrest her sister, but the fact Carmelita had to be a direct correlation with her sister something had to be serious. I knew I'd only be a matter of time until I was somehow sucked into this but for now I decided to be on the down low. If something wasn't wrong with Ramona might have a better change of getting Ramona back than I would. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Inspector Fox would have something to say if I happened to get involved but just like everything that involved that family, it wouldn't take long for me to be a key component. I'd talk to Bentley and see if he could find any way to get into contact with Ramona. If we could talk with her we'd be able to find her missing family members.

Along with both of them possibly being in danger from whoever they were battling, I was in danger with the both of them. It was extremely rare that the three of us were ever in the same room for very long but I did have to admit, I had some what led both of them on for having feelings for them which could possibly lead to jealousy. I did have to admit that I had certain yet different feelings for the both of them. There were certain things about Carmelita that I couldn't help but feel attracted to. Then again I had the same thing to say with Ramona. Carmelita had more of a headstrong personality and wasn't afraid to go head first into things. Her abrasive actions usually got her job done but trying to get through her hard outer shell was a tough one to crack. Even though Ramona had a headstrong personality as well, she was more into careful planning that could waist time, but her outer shell wasn't as hard to crack and it was relatively simply for me to see what her true personality was when she wasn't stealing things or tying to escape the police. Then again, if someone were to base the two simply on looks, they were equally matched. Both females were just as pretty but their personalities were polar opposites. Even if they did meet somewhere middle on things, I couldn't help but feel guilty for leading both of them one with flirting, pet names, and the occasional kiss here and there and I knew I would eventually have to decide which one I had true feelings for.


	5. Chapter 5: Fox vs Bandicoot

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own and Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

Ok, small lie. I decided not to turn this into the crossover section just yet since I'm simply describing the other characters and they won't play a major part for another two chapters so sorry if I confused anyone! And I know this chapter is a little boring in the beginning since there are a ton of descriptions in this chapter. But it picks up near the end and into the rest of the story so please read and review and let me know what you think!

Chapter 5: Fox vs. Bandicoot

Tensions were rising as thieves and police officers sat in the same room. Thankfully the two groups were split apart to avoid a riot from the twelve of us but the tension was rising quickly. I sat on the police side of the two cells and the thieves in our family were in the other. It was extremely rare for all twelve of us to be near each other but when we were fireworks often showed and this was no exception. It had been hours since any of us had talked but dirty glances were exchanged quite often. I went down the line of my thieving brothers and sisters and realized just how long it had been since I had last seen them. I saw Ramona almost three times a week when she was stealing something so I knew how she was. The same went for Sitka and Charlotte. Both were grown and both resembled our parents. Charlotte was a spitting image of our mother and Sitka was a reflection of our father. The two of them were tall and lean and years of thieving and training showed in their muscles.

My attention turned to Crash, one of my many various younger brothers. He was only a year younger than I was but had the mindset of a child. He wasn't as serious as the rest of us but I didn't know if that was what would have really happened to him if we hadn't been taken away as children or if it was a result of the experiments on him. Along with that mindset, the poor guy couldn't speak a language. He had developed his own languages of babbles and somehow the thieves had figured out what he could say. The officers on the other hand couldn't. Crash was skinny but extremely athletic. Like myself, his fur was orange but I don't think he got it from my mother. Crash, along with some of my siblings, wasn't my father's biological children. He was the result of an affair from my mother and was a bandicoot instead of a fox or raccoon. He never really seemed to care about that and there was rarely anything that could bring him down.

I heard a yawn from their cells and the tallest out of the females yawned deeply. Tawna, like Crash, was another affair child and was an orange bandicoot. She was one of the two blondes in the family but she was no moron. She was a master manipulator and could usually get what she wanted. She was no thief and she certainly wasn't a cop. She was too tall to be as sneaky as Ramona, nearing a little over six feet, and she was too much of a slacker to be a cop. If you were to look at the way she dressed, you'd expect her to be working a street corner five or six days a week but instead, she was a simple waitress. I didn't judge her but I did have to admit I never did feel comfortable around her. Her height made her intimidating towards others but she seems to get along with the others. I sighed and rested my head against the wall.

I looked away from the thieves and turned to my own field. I looked over my brothers and realized I was the only female from our family who was still in the police force. Charlotte had originally signed up to be a police officer but eventually turned to the thieving side. I watched Nick, a younger brother, kick at the bars separating the two groups of our family. His kick set off a few sparks between him and Ramona. She let out a loud hiss, breaking the silence, and swatted at his legs. Out of the few times Ramona had been arrested, Nick, Daniel, and Carlos had a bad habit of trying to act like a superior authority. But to tell the truth, Ramona was older and certainly had a superior attitude. Nick and Carlos were foxes and Daniel was the only raccoon on the police force. All three men were smug while in uniform but I couldn't help realize they were cowards without a badge. Daniel and Nick had a more bravery and integrity than Nick, who was a straight up pansy and a bully. All three were well built for combat and could beat the snot out of anyone who crossed their paths.

I returned my attention to the thieves and my attention turned to the smartest of the eight. Coco, like Crash and Tawna, was again a result of an affair. She had the lighter orange fur like the other two and like Tawna was a blonde. Coco was incredibly smart though. I had to admit, if you compared her brains to the combine brains from Bentley and Penelope from the Cooper gang, I was pretty sure she was smarter. Coco was fairly athletic herself and had a tendency to look up to Ramona. Neither or the two girls were the preppy type of people but you could see the streak of frilliness in Coco. Both women were excellent fighters and Coco even had multiple black belts in karate. I glanced over to Victoria, the fourth and final raccoon in our family. She looked identical to Ramona, much like I resembled Charlotte. However, Victoria was never the best thief but had a heart of gold. She had a somewhat unnatural tendency to get lost while out in the field and at time, they could be rather funny.

I sighed and looked to the final member in our family. Crunch Bandicoot was the final result of an affair and his fur was more of a darker brown rather than the typical bright orange of a bandicoot. Even though I was older than Crunch, I had a lot of respect for him. He was always protective of his siblings, older or younger, and always had something helpful to say. He would usually walk by and give you a random tidbit of helpful information for you. He had somewhat of a retro Mr. T look to him and sounded like him as well. Crunch was extremely well built and extremely intimidating to anyone who walked up to him. His muscles were huge and the fact he had a robotic arm and let also gave him a tougher look. When we were kids and experimented on, it caused him an arm and a leg, literally. Now, he was halfway robotic. It didn't phase him though, he was still tough and a good man.

I quickly snapped my head towards the cells door and growled softly when one of the guards opened the door. I was yanked up by my hair and my hands were quickly bound behind my back. The guard cowered in fear after I was out and Crunch had one hand wrapped around his throat. Coco eventually calmed him down and Ramona was yanked out as well. We were both grabbed by the hair and roughly walked down the hallway.

"Boss wants to talk to you." He said roughly. We were dragged down hallways until we saw an open landing and I felt my muscles tense when I saw the mad-man that had brought us here in the first place. My sister and I were each walked to one side of him and held in place by two guards.

"Good to see you ladies," he said calmly, "I've been meaning to show you something." He motioned to the floor in front of us, "This," he beamed, "is why you are here. The both of you are the best in your jobs and you need to see what you can't stop." I had seen many things while in my job as a cop, but this was the worst.

I could only stand and watch as an innocent elephant was let to the center of a cage and locked in. A crab was shoved in there with it and shivers went through my spine at what happened next. Electricity could be heard and I was briefly blinded at the sudden flash of light. The elephant screeched in pain and the sound of electric volts got louder. The light died down and my mouth dropped at the sight of the elephant. Somehow, the elephant and crab and been combined into one animal and now it had to body of an elephant but was covered in protective shards of shell. The animal was now aggressive and very deadly. Ramona had looked away a long time ago and from the expression on her face, she was remembering something from her childhood and it was hitting her hard.

"I am glad to say that I have improved my machine since the last time you were here," he sneered, "and you will see what I had planned to do to you years ago." I got ready to say something when I felt a hot burning sensation on my arm and a sudden hissing sound. I yelped in pain and Ramona did as well. I looked to the upper part of my right arm and grimaced. We had just been branded like cattle and now a permanent symbol became singed into my flesh and the same with my sister. I sucked in a breath as I started at the print now branded in my arm; a large symbol of the letter 'N' surrounded by a circle.

_Another quick note, some of the names or not my original names, for example Tawna isn't my own character but is in the Crash games. But anyway, please review and let me know what you think! (:_


	6. Chapter 6: An Attempted Escape

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own and Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_Well, I decided to go ahead and put it in the crossover section since this chapter had more things from Crash Bandicoot than Sly Cooper so I decided to change it. So, this story will be in the crossover section until it's done and I know my stories never go over 11 chapters but this one won't! It should end up being 20-ish chapters so it won't be over for a while! Anyway, please read and review and let me know what you think!_

Chapter 6: An Attempted Escape

I swatted branches and trees out of my path and cursed quietly after stubbing my foot on a fallen log. I was followed by the Guru and Bentley had sent the two of us on a wild goose chase deep in the Australian jungles. Bentley had gone on and on about some sort of artifact he wanted us to get but I only half listened. During the briefing, my mind was on other matters. It had been two weeks since Carmelita's disappearance and there was still no sign from her. Along with that, Ramona's five day vacation turned into a fourteen day one and her phone still wasn't working correctly. I was starting to get worried for their well being and could only hope they would turn up sooner or later. I cleared my head of any thoughts when we stopped in a clearing and looked around. It was starting to get dark and I had no idea if we were anywhere near our destination. I looked around and sighed when I saw nothing but trees and more grass all around. Bugs sounded in the distance and I turned my attention to the Guru.

"Do you any idea where we are?" I asked as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. The Guru shook his head and I sighed, "Great, just great." I mumbled. It was hot as Hades outside and I had fur. I always hated being hot and it usually caused me to get irritable.

We got ready to start our trek again when a siren started blaring somewhere in the distance. My heard turned in the direction the sound was coming from and noticed a tower in the distance. I hadn't set off any alarms, or at least I didn't think I did, and I had no idea why it was going off. I glanced to the Guru and he had his eyes fixed on the direction of the tower. His eyes squinted and I followed in suit. It didn't take long for me to heard rustling in front of us and shortly after a blonde headed bandicoot came running towards us. She turned briefly and looked behind her.

"Get to the beach!" she shouted before running again. I glanced back to the dreamtime teacher who tried to keep his eyes on the mysterious blonde. There was most rustling in front of us and I was surprised to see Carmelita jump over a bush. Not far behind was Ramona and both of their faces expressed one of horror.

"Go, go, go!" Ramona yelled at her sister and I felt the Inspector grab me by the front of the shirt and the next thing I knew I was running with them. I heard the Guru running behind me along with Ramona. I had no idea what was going on but at least I knew the two women were alive.

Carmelita had let go of my shirt and had a lead on her sister. I was running side by side with Ramona who was huffing out her breaths. Her hair flew in the wind as she ran and fear covered her face. I looked her up and down to see if something could tell me what had happened to her. I noticed there was some sort of burned brand on her arm and that she wasn't in her normal attire of jeans and a yellow sweater. Instead, she and her sister along with the blonde from earlier, were in orange short sleeved jumpsuits; similar to one you would get in a prison. I look ahead to see where we were running and I could see Carmelita's tail ahead of us.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard some kind of roar behind us. It was almost ape-like but if it was, the animal had to be huge and was overly angered. I felt my heart stop when out of the corner of my eyes I saw Ramona quickly fall to the ground. Carmelita, the Guru, and I all turned and could see Ramona get dangled in the air like a ragdoll by the biggest ape I had ever seen in my life. I was over six feet tall and this thing towered over me. This one was different however, the back of the ape seemed to had the tail and backing of a scorpion. I didn't ponder the though too long when Ramona's earsplitting screech broke through the roar of the ape and the blaring of the sirens. The gorilla lifted Ramona far above its head and slammed it down harshly. Wind shot out from the paw and a thrashing Ramona stopped moving and went limp. The gorilla roared again and Carmelita grabbed my shirt again and we were off.

"Run, you moron!" she shouted. I was running directly beside the frantic officer and the Guru was beside me.

"What is that thing?" I asked as we ran. We turned sharply when spikes shot up in front of us and another type of creature pounced towards us. We got away but slid to a stop when I saw the guru get grabbed by the spiked creature. He was quickly taken away and a different roar sounded beside us.

"A Scorporilla grabbed Ramona," she huffed out as we ran, "and that was a Spike. And I think that's a Goar!" a four legged, fed furred, multi tusked thing soon came into view and we were quickly slammed into a tree when we were hit with the tusks. Carmelita and I rolled away from each other and I was dazed slightly. I eventually regained my bearings and Carmelita was already on her feet. I shot up and followed her; leaving the Goar behind us. I felt the air start to get cold and Inspector Fox let out a groan.

"I take it that's not a good sign?" she shook her head and I noticed ice on the trees.

"Ratcicles!" she shouted and we dodged coming into contact with an overgrown blue rat, or what appeared to be one. A third type of roar was heard and it sounded like an extremely angered elephant.

We both jumped in surprise when we were suddenly standing face to face with some kind of shelled elephant. Carmelita was quickly wrapped in its trunk and was slammed into me. I flew back and hit a tree. Inspector Fox went unconscious and I was approached by the elephant. I looked me over once, shook its head, and walked off with Carmelita in its trunk. I breathed in deeply and ran my paw through my hair. In ten minutes I had managed to loose Ramona, Carmelita, and now the Guru to genetically altered animals. I still had no idea what was going on but I knew I was now involved. It took a while, but the sirens stopped and everything was silent once again.

_And I know these names area a little funky but they are in the Crash games. And this may sound a little confusing but I'll try to explain it as best as I can…since I have a little trouble explaining how these mutants look like, you can Google them if you want to know what they look like. I personally suggest going to for the best pictures. Now the mutants (freaky animal combos) are from the Crash of the Titans and Crash Mind Over Mutant games, but the Crash characters I'm using (Crash, Coco, etc.) I'm basing them from the Crash Twinsanity games since I can't stand the way the characters look in the two I just mentioned. Hopefully that's not too confusing but anyhow, please review and let me know what you think!_


	7. Chapter 7: The Temple

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own and Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_Well here's chapter 7. And I'm sorry if sounds a little boring but this chapter is actually really crucial to the plot. I'm also trying to gradually add in the master plan with out completely giving it away in the beginning. Also, I know there are a ton of mutants in the Crash games but I'm not putting them all in, too many to keep track of. But please read and review and let me know what you think so far. Also, if you have any questions or comments about the story please let me know and I'll try to clear things up. _

Chapter 7: The Temple

"And then there was the time I busted that mafia circle in the city," my brother boasted as we continued our forced journey through the jungles, "Then there was the time I lead my squadron to bust the crime ring in the States…" I groaned as he kept going on and on about the different jobs he had pulled in the past year while working with Interpol and my patients were wearing thin. After being thrashed around by that stupid Scorporilla the night before I was in no mood to listen to him ramble on and on.

"Nicholas!" I yelled at him, "Shut up! My head is pounding and you're not helping it! I feel worse now than I did after I spent that weekend in Rio." I growled and buried my throbbing head in my paws as we kept going on our seemingly pointless journey. I was just thankful that Cortex had us riding on Goars instead of walking; otherwise I'd died from exhaustion a while ago. The Goars walked slowly and their fluffy, red fur made it easy to relax.

"When did you spend a weekend in Rio, Ramona?" Sitka asked from behind me and I chuckled.

"Remember the time I said I'd meet you in Italy after we spend that week in Alaska?"

"You said your plane was delayed!" he shouted after realizing he had been outsmarted. I smirked and rested my head in my paws again. I sighed when the Goar I was riding on stopped and grunted. I looked up the other five in the group stopped as well.

I was in the front and each Goar carried two of us while Cortex and his body guards rode on various mutants that he had created. Goars, along with any other mutated creatures running around, were created by Cortex. After unsuccessfully experimenting on my family and me, Cortex had spent years trying to perfect his machines and he used local animals to do so. Most of them were a combination of two or more different animals and just about all of them ended up being a freak of nature. I wasn't completely sure what a Goar was a mixture of, but it had to have been multiple creatures. Red fur, four hugs tusks, claws, tiny tail like a bear, and bright red fur described the creature and the thing walked freakishly slow on four legs. Normally, after an experiment went horribly wrong, Cortex would set them free to allow them to terrorize the inhabitants of the island, but he would occasionally keep a few of them as pets. I had spent years keeping tabs on this mad-man, keeping up-to-date information on his experiments and could identify most of his mutants. I could name them, tell your thief characteristics, what set them off, how to keep them calm, and how to keep yourself alive while around them. Thankfully a Goar wasn't very fast but one could knock your brains out in an instant.

"Hey Cortex!" I heard Daniel shout behind us, "Where are we going?" we hadn't been told anything about what we were doing or where we were going but we had been out since dawn going to some unknown location and now we were stopped and overlooked a temple in the distance.

"If you must know," I said as he made his way to the front of the line, "I need more power. After your little escape attempt last night, I had to shell out mutants to find you and now I've run out of Mojo. And since I can't leave any of you alone for an hour, you're coming with me. Plus, I'll need you for what's inside the temple after I'm done with collecting Mojo." Mojo was a form of energy used during the ancient times of the island. The blue spheres were powerful and could give someone enough power to rule the world with a flick of the wrist, or so the stories say. I never believed in the stuff until recently. After seeing the experiments with my own eyes a week or so ago and the fact Cortex had forcefully recruited the Guru to come along only made me wonder. Another thing that ate away me was 'what was inside the temple'. I had grown up sitting on my father's lap listening to stories about all of the bizarre things that this island held and according to Dad the inside of the temple was no good. In one of his stories he had told me of what was housed inside and it kept me away from this end of the island when I was a kid.

"Why don't you focus on arresting _him_ instead of me when we get out of this?" I motioned to Cortex with my head and I turned to face Carmelita.

"I plan on it." she muttered as our Goar was forced to move forward. Our ride was a little cramp, along with have Carmelita sitting behind me, Cortex had shoved the Guru in front of me so we were riding three to an animal as opposed to two. Since the Guru was normally stationed in Australia, I figured he had to know just about anything about the temple in the distance.

"What's inside there?" I asked him quietly. He turned his head and spoke. Like my brother, he didn't speak clear English but at least he spoke a language. It was the language of the island and thankfully I was fluent. He explained about different masks that were housed inside. Ones that held the power to control the elements, water, earth, fire, air, etc. They were powerful and along with those, there were two that were similar to the Chinese symbol on Yin and Yang. One symbolized purity and the other symbolized the evil within the world. Shivers went up my spine when I thought of the power Cortex would hold he obtained the six masks and enough Mojo.

"So," Carmelita whispered in my ear, "What's in there."

"The elements, the mask of the good and the mask of the bad." I mumbled quietly. She nodded and I tensed as we got clser and closer to the temple and I could only imagine what we would do inside of there. If Cortex had ultimate power, there was a huge possibility that the entire world was in trouble.

_And I realized this chapter might be a little confusing so if you have any questions about it, don't hesitate to ask. Thanks! (:_


	8. Chapter 8: Savages

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_To be honest, I've actually decided to change how the middle of this story would go. The original plan I had would be a little boring but I've re-thought it and put some twists in there that I'm hoping to foreshadow correctly. So keep your eyes open for the foreshadowing and let me know if you like how I put it. Then again I might not put it in until later…I'm not sure yet but I do like how I've re-thought it and I like version 2 better. And sorry for the delay in the update today, every time I'd get my laptop out my dog would roll his face on the number pad and I'd end up with a strand of 20 numbers every two lines and I'd have to backspace. But I finally got it updated and please read and review and let me know what you think so far! Thanks (:_

Chapter 8: Savages

I growled as I was pushed forward with a gun in my back. Along with having a gun pointed at me, I was forced to climb close to a hundred stairs with the man I hated with a passion. We were alone and getting closer and closer to the top of the temple with each stair we climbed. The others had been left at the bottom, under the watchful eye of his niece Nina, and they would be brought to the top once everything was secure topside. According to Cortex, having the 'top of the line' Interpol agent overlook everything was better than a 'dishonest' thief looking it over.

"Let's keep it moving, Ms. Fox." Cortex muttered as he pressed the gun further into my back. I shot him a dirty glance and stomped up the stairs.

"What's the point of this, Cortex? You have plenty of cronies to do this for you." He chuckled and we kept walking.

"You'd be climbing these stairs in a few moments anyway. Now if you're talking about why you and your family are here, well, that's a different story."

"Do explain." I hissed.

"You and your family are my best experiments, even though you are failed. Your stubbornness and strengths make you perfect to lead." My eyebrows knitted together at his statement.

"To lead?" I repeated. I was determined to figure out what he was up to.

"Yes, my dear, to lead. To lead my armies to power." I shook my head and stopped dead in my tracks.

"We won't do it and you know that." He chuckled again and shook his head.

"True, you won't help, willingly. That's why you and I are retrieving the Mojo and masks. With the combined power of the Mojo, the masks, and my scientific power controlling your every thoughts I'll be the most powerful man in the world and no one can stop me! You and your silly family will serve me and there isn't anyone powerful enough to bring me down."

"What about your niece? She hates your guts and she's been trying to bring you down for years!" I sneered.

"Ah," he sighed, "my adorable niece and I have worked out a deal. She takes six of you and I have the other six and together we'll be the most powerful uncle-niece group ever."

"Well, even if that does work, Ramona and I won't be brainwashed easily. She's taken you down before and she can do it again."

"Your sister is the definition of simple-minded. Yes, she can be intimidating, a wonderful and talented thief, and occasionally can crack an algorithmic code or two," he said, "but you learn her weaknesses and she'll crumble and you'll have her under your thumb." I felt my anger start to rise and I would have beaten him down there, but he had a gun and I was weaponless.

"And you're right," he continued, "with my old technology it would have been difficult to take control of your mind, but now I have enough technology to control everyone on the flick of a switch. You'll all succumb to my control and you'll enjoy a life of being dominant over anyone you meet. Now keep moving." He ordered and we continued climbing. I sighed and walked silently. My ears perked when I heard rustling in the nearby trees. I glanced over and a couple of figures ducked behind the leaves. I had first suspected it was Cooper and his gang was playing some sort of trick but as I kept climbing, that slowly faded out of my mind. I remember my father telling me about natives that used to live here centuries ago but they had been gone for years. Then again, Ramona still believed that there were groups of them still around. I brushed it off and kept hiking up the stairs.

I sighed happily after I had finally reached the top stair and stood on the ground floor of the temple. I looked ahead and roughly thirty feet ahead was another steep staircase that led inside the temple. But in front of me the pool of Mojo sat quietly. The surrounding area was painted in a soft blue and the Mojo flowed like water. You could see the orbs of energy within the pool and everything else was still. Large marble statues surrounded the area and they looked like people and their hands held the roof. The surrounding area was a circle and when you looked over the edge, it dropped down to the island floor, nearly two hundred feet below. I was pushed forward again but Cortex and stepped slowly, keeping my eyes open for anything suspicious. I had only taken about six steps when I spear came hurtling towards my face. I stepped to the side and looked to where the arrow had come from. It only took a few seconds before the place was covered in island natives, every single one of them were dressed in traditional clothing. One of them yelled and the rest got ready to charge.

I turned on my heels and bolted down the stairs; Cortex close behind me. The swarms of island natives were behind us, shouting and firing off arrows and spears as if their life depended on it. I glanced and could see Cortex screaming like a child as he ran. He acted tough on the outside but was a pansy on the inside; much like Nick. I brushed the thought away and focused on getting away with my life. I was about three quarters of the way down the stairs when I felt a small prick on my back and my legs gave out on me. I tumbled down the remaining stairs and stopped at the bottom. I couldn't move and there was no doubt I'd be tied up and hauled away. My muscles were tight, but instead loose.

"Homemade muscle relaxer." I groaned as I realized the rest of my family and the guards had bolted away as well. I glanced around and noticed Cortex had been shot as well and was only a few feet away. I heard one of the natives stop next to me and I shifted my eyes to meet his. He shouted something in their own language and it was only a few minutes later that I had been tied up by my wrists and ankles and was being carted away by them. As Cortex and I were hauled into the woods, I looked to the trees and was sure I made out the figure of Cooper sitting in a tree. I sighed, hoping he would help me out of this and listened to the natives chat amongst themselves. I soon made the decision that today had gone from bad…to worse.


	9. Chapter 9: Waterfall Run

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_Alright, I know I haven't been using the 'Sly' point of view that often, but the rest of the story will have mainly Sly and Carmelita point of views with a few Ramona ones here and there, chapter 10 will explain why, but he will be more involved I promise! But this chapter is a little longer and the rest should be longer, more detailed, and the plot will twist and turn and I will be in the 20 chapter area! So, please read and review and let me know what you think. And if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or anything about the story please let me know!_

Chapter 9: Waterfall Run

I pulled my binoccucom from my leg pouch and scanned the surrounding area. I was perched high in a tree inside the native fortress on the island. I had watched Inspector Fox and Cortex get carted away by some of the villagers and now if I could find Carmelita, I could get her out of here and get the rest of her family out too. I scanned past the villagers, the huts, the few chickens and boars they had, the few worms they had in their crops, and eventually onto a totem pole. I scanned up the structure and was actually surprised to see that they had tied Inspector Fox to one side and Cortex on the other side. They were at the very top of the wooden pole, which was resting in the edge of a river. I chuckled quietly when Carmelita started bagging at Cortex about something.

"Sly," Bentley whispered into my earpiece, "are you sure you want go through with this? I mean, not having a police officer on our tails twenty-four seven might be a good thing!" I shook my head.

"Where's your sense of adventure, Bentley? Without Carmelita keeping tabs on us, where's the fun?" I asked with a smirk.

"Fine," he huffed, "but if you want to get Carmelita down off that totem pole then you risk letting Cortex loose as well." I sighed and knew he was right.

"Well, we'll get her down for sure and if he slips away in the process we'll hunt him down," I scanned the area again, "You have a plan for getting her down?"

"Well," Bentley mumbled and I heard him typing away at his laptop, "I'd use my RC chopper but the motor's faulty," he paused.

"What about Penelope's chopper? Isn't it working?" there was a pause at the other end of the line and I sighed quietly. It was completely obvious to everyone that Bentley had a thing for Penelope but why he wouldn't just tell her we didn't know.

"That'll work, Sly," he said after I waited, "I'll have Penelope send out the chopper and we'll use the grapple hook and yank that top section off. Then you can go down there and untie her from it and we can get out of this village."

"Great," I said, "Bentley, why don't you just go ahead and make your move on Penelope?" he scoffed on the other end of the line and I knew he was going to deny it.

"What are you talking about? 'Make a move' are you crazy? We are simply teammates and that it!" I let out a laugh and he huffed, "Well I could tell you the same thing!"

"How?" I asked, "Bentley I don't like Penelope, you do."

"That's not what I mean, Sly! Why don't you just tell Carmelita you feel about her," he paused, "or Ramona, or which ever one you're chasing after!"

"I don't have feelings for them!" I retorted, "Don't change the subject!"

"You told me a few months ago you had feelings for Ramona and you've been flirting with Carmelita since she was assigned to your case! And aren't you afraid that if they find out you flirt with both of them that they're going to get jealous and try to kill each other or you for that matter?" he shouted back. I rolled my eyes and saw Penelope's RC chopper come into view.

"Chopper's here, Bentley, I'll finish this conversation later." I muttered after the chopper connected the grappling hook to the top of the totem pole. The chopper got ready to yank the top section off the totem pole when one of the natives noticed the chopper and attempted to shoot it down. My stomach twisted into knots when they made a direct hit and the chopper shot towards the river, bringing the top of the totem pole with it. I mentally slapped myself when the top fell into the water and started going down the waterfall with Carmelita still attached to the side of it. I quickly put away my binoccucom and raced for the river.

Carmelita could swim but I had no idea what would happen since she was still tied securely to the hunk of wood floating down the river and getting closer to the first small waterfall. I heard her yelling our curses in Spanish after the wood went over the first small waterfall and the wood bounced back up. She and Cortex were completely soaked after the first dip in the water and only made it worse after they had made it over the second small waterfall. I knew I'd have to grab them before the next waterfall, the big one. I raced down the side of the river, looking for a good spot to grab onto the floating piece of wood.

"Carmelita!" I shouted after I found a decent spot, "If you can grab on," I motioned to my cane, "I can pull you over!"

"I'm tied to a totem pole does it _look_ like I can grab onto that!" she shrieked. I sighed with her stubbornness and reached in as far as I could and just barely attached my cane to one of her belt loops. I pulled her towards the shore and eventually untied the knot in the rope. I pulled Carmelita up onto the shore and allowed Cortex and the top of the totem pole to float over the waterfall.

"Thank you." She muttered after she was on her feet. I nodded and she shook the water from her fur.

"How long do you think it'll take them to realize you're gone?" I asked as I referred to the island natives.

"I think they've figured it out." She said before bolting into the woods behind us. I followed closely behind her when a swarm of people swarmed and chased us.

"I swear!" she shouted as we kept running, "If I have to run away from someone one more time today I'm going to scream!" I chuckled.

"I think you'd be able to handle it, pretty lady." I remarked and she snorted. I smiled and we weaved in and out of the trees. The shouting of the natives eventually got softer and softer the longer we ran.

"Were does that waterfall end?" I asked after we had slowed to a trot.

"It flows into the stream by Cortex's base. Why?" her eyebrows knitted together and we finally were able to walk. I could only assume the villagers had given up and hopefully had just gone back home.

"If he survives that waterfall I think I know where he's going." She nodded and we silently ventured through the woods.

"You were at the temple when they swarmed," she said eventually, "where did everyone else run to?" I was slightly taken back by her question. Not by the question itself, but the fact she was actually talking to me without having to point a gun at me.

"The guards and that little short kid with the hands," she chuckled, "rounded them up probably brought them back to the castle.

"That little short kid with the hands?" she repeated with a laugh. I nodded.

"Her hands are freaky! They're not normal!" I was telling the truth. The kids' hands were robotic.

"Nina Cortex, niece to Neo Cortex," her tone became serious, "The kid has more brains than her uncle and is three times as dangerous." I nodded quietly.

"What's the deal with her hands?" she shrugged at the question.

"I don't know you'll have to ask Ramona on that one. She keeps tabs on them, I don't."

"From what I've seen of them they probably ran out of people to experiment on." I was referring to the niece and Carmelita laughed with a nod.

"Probably." She was still in the process of finishing off a laugh when we stopped dead in our tracks. We heard low growl from behind us and I instantly put my cane up in front of her for minimal protection. When I realized what had made the growl I almost dropped my cane until the person was overly angered. She growled, her fists were clenched, she was in a defensive stance, and she was staring us down. I was unaware of what could have been going on but Carmelita seemed to have an idea. She made one simple attempt to try to defuse the anger from the woman only five feet from us.

"Ramona?" she asked slowly but it did nothing to calm her down. Ramona growled again and she looked like she was ready to pounce on her sister and me for that matter.


	10. Chapter 10: Betrayal

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_Chapter 10! And by the end of this chapter you'll figure out why the 'Ramona' point of view won't be used too much but it'll still be used to mix things up a little. But the good thing is that this isn't even the half way point so I have a lot of chapter left to post so yes, this will be my longest story! Which is relatively good for me since I'm usually finishing a story by this point but not this time; but anyway, please read and review and let me know what you think. And if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, predictions, etc. go ahead and put them out there. Anyway, thanks. (: _

Chapter 10: Betrayal

"Ramona," I repeated to my sister, "Just calm down and we'll work something out." Ramona growled again before unclenching and clenching her fists. Her growls were continuous and only paused when she needed to take another breath. She took a small step forward, her fur bristled, and she was starting to scare me. Sure, I had seen her get angrier than she is now but I'd never been on the receiving end of it. I looked her up and down and something strange came to my attention. The spot on her arm where she had been branded, but now a medium sized metal ring surrounded it, the symbol of Cortex glowing on it. It was obviously electronic but I was unsure of its purpose. Her growls got louder and I glanced to Cooper who did the same to me and shrugged.

"Calm down, Ramona," I repeated, "I don't know what's gotten you so mad, but just calm down and we'll figure something out." I tired to get her to calm down, stop growling, get the look of hate from her eyes, or anything but nothing was working. It seemed like the more I talked the more defensive she got.

"You have any ideas?" I asked Sly who shook his head.

"Not really," he muttered, "I just don't get why she isn't saying anything." He was right; she stayed silent, with the exception of her growling.

"You morons," I dreaded that voice. The nasally, high pitched, childlike voice of Cortex's niece, Nina, "she won't listen to you," I spotted Nina slightly behind Ramona and she had to be the source of Ramona's behavior, "She only obeys me." She sneered.

"What'd you do to her?" Sly questioned and I glared at the teenager. She laughed her nasally laughed and stepped down from the log she was perched on. She waltzed up to my sister and grabbed onto the device on her arm.

"I am a lot smarter than my brainless old uncle," she rolled her eyes; "It's taken him years to figure out how to control someone with these. I, on the other hand, figured it out. You and your family are the easiest to test on since you're already here! If this is successful, then our plan can run smoothly. If not, we'll rethink a few things but don't worry I won't let you miss out on any of the fun."

"Even if that did work," I started, "She's my sister. She wouldn't hurt me." Nina smirked.

"You'd be surprised," she muttered. She snapped her robotic fingers and Ramona instantly crouched. She let out an ear splitting shriek before lunging forward on all fours. Cooper and I bolted in the opposite direction and I could hear Ramona behind us.

She was still on all fours as she bounded behind us. She was already a fast runner, but on all fours she could be deadly. With Ramona now turned against us, things were looking really bad. I could hear her hissing behind us as we ran and she was close on our tails.

"What's gotten into your sister?" Sly shouted as we ran through fallen leaves and shifted branches from our faces. I huffed as we ran and Ramona wasn't far behind us.

"Some sort of mind control," we ran faster when Ramona started snapping at our tails, "We've got to get that thing off her arm!" I could hear her snarl behind us and I quickly glanced back to see her. She was running on all fours, her fangs were barring, and her breaths were coming out in heaves. The two of us continued escaping from my sister. Twisting and turning through the woods and trying to keep from getting tackled by the raccoon behind us.

"We've got more than your sister to worry about." I heard the criminal beside me say. I glanced back quickly groaned. More people from my family had joined Ramona in hunting us down. Sitka and Crash had joined the chase and like my sister, they chose to run on all fours. I could only assume they were under the same spell as Ramona and I knew they could be even more deadly than my sister.

I shrieked and we skidded to the left after Victoria jumped out from a thicket. Like the others, she had a device on her arm and on her hunt. Cortex or Nina one had to have placed a device on everyone and set them loose around the island while I was stuck at the native village. From the looks of it, Cooper and I were the only ones left with a clear head, with the exception of the members on his team. Ramona let out another ear splitting shriek behind us and we sped up. They were starting to close in and we were being pushed to one side of the island. We couldn't break off to either side and we certainly couldn't double back. We were nearing mutant territory on both sides and venturing to either side would put us in trouble of running into on of the freaks of nature created by that moronic mad-mad of a scientist.

"We've got to figure out how to shake them." I huffed out as we kept running.

"How do plan on doing that? They're in the middle of attack mode!" I shrugged.

"I don't know. We'll have to them first then figure something about." I glanced back again and noticed she had switched to running on only her feet and was slowing down. My siblings skidded to a stop and growled again. We got ready to stop running ourselves until we were suddenly whipped upwards and suddenly turned upside down.

"Animal traps." I muttered. The old school trap of having a loop of rope hiding underneath some fallen leave then having it set off after you stepped inside. I had only been upside down for a few seconds and I could feel the blood rushing to my head the suspended leg was already asleep. Sly was in the same predicament I was a foot or so away. His had dropped his cane when we were snatched up and his hat had fluttered to the ground. I looked up and could see and upside down Ramona waltz her way towards us. She said nothing but simply picked up Sly's can from underneath him. She rested it on her shoulder and glanced over the two of us. She shook her head and smirked.

"You two are the only people I know that could fall for that. Even those simpletons you work with didn't fall for it." she tapped Sly's chest with his cane and chuckled.

"What do you mean 'didn't fall for it'? What'd they make you do?" his eyes narrowed and I watched. Ramona pulled his head forward slightly by using his cane before speaking.

"They didn't _make_ me do anything. A little planning here, a little planning there, set a few traps, and boom," she paused, "they fell right in the bag like a rock in the water." She moved the cane and turned to my brothers.

"Bring them inside through the north entrance," she ordered, "Take her to lab and get her set up for Cortex. And him," she paused and pointed to Sly, "take him to my office; I'll have to figure out what to do with him. I'll probably have to throw him in with that brainless hippo and figure out something for them to do. Go it?" she barked.

"Yes ma'am." Sitka barked out, "But you've already done something with the hippo, remember. You put him on the construction line." Her face went serious and she yanked him down to her level by the collar.

"Did I ask you what I did with the hippo?" Sitka became nervous, searching for the correct words, "Well, did I ask you what I did with the hippo?" he shook his head quickly, "Then shut your mouth." She threw him back and motioned with her head towards us.

"Now get them down and do what I said." I was dumbfounded. Not even twenty-four hours ago she was her usual self. But now, now she was a tyrant that ruled with an iron fist. I'd have to figure out a way to get that device off her and get my sister back.

"Ramona," I said as my brothers tried to get us down, "this isn't you. You've got to listen to me-" she but me off.

"No, you listen to me." Her voice was cold and she inched her face closer to mine, "You don't control me, I control you. Got it?" is sighed and nodded. I'd think of some way to get her back to normal but now, I'd figure I'd stay on her good side for the time being.


	11. Chapter 11: A Plan to Conquer

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_Sorry for the delay in updates, I've been busy these past few days but I did finally update. I didn't really have any big scenes to happen in this chapter so I tried to fill it up with details but it does set up upcoming chapters. Other than that I don't really have anything else to add so please read and review and let me know what you think._

Chapter 11: A Plan to Conquer

Carmelita and I stayed silent as we rode the elevator up. Along with us, Ramona stood in front and kept watch on us from the corner of her eye. She had taken us to a different section of the castle; the place where mutants were made, machines were built, and the center for plan making was housed. Ramona was apparently now in charge, other than Cortex and his niece, and she ruled with an iron first, no mercy, and a short temper. It was obvious what she was going to do with her sister; send her off to succumb to mind control like herself and her other siblings. However, what she was planning to do to me was still unknown and what she had done with my gang was also unknown. According to her brother's slip of the tongue, Murray was on the construction line; whatever they were constructing couldn't possibly be good. While Bentley, Penelope, the Panda King, and the Guru were still unaccounted for, I was sure she was taking me to her office, but then again when she had an office of her own was also unclear.

I also knew it wasn't by choice. While Inspector Fox and I were hanging upside down by our ankles in the jungle, she had told me her thoughts on what was wrong with her sister. Unlike before, the raccoon had some sort of ring clamped down around her arm and the only thing Carmelita could think of what that the device is what Cortex used to control the thief, which made sense to me. Granted it wasn't a simple process, but all it had to do was connect to her nerves and she would no longer be a functional person but instead she had been turned into a puppet. Which is exactly what had happened to her. The symbol of Cortex glowed red on her arm piece which only make me think the device was on and functional. I decided that I would find either Bentley or Penelope, hopefully both, and see if they could figure out how to either stop Cortex's control over Ramona or get the device off of her without a struggle. Even though I had no idea where they were, I was determined to make my escape from Ramona and find them. She was a good thief but there would be no way she could keep me in one place by herself.

The doors to the elevators 'pinged' after reaching the desired floor and slid open quietly. Ramona marched forward and we were yanked forward along with her. The soles of her tennis shoes echoed across the quiet hallway until we had walked onto a carpet and I heard her huff out a breath. As we walked, I glanced around the hallway and shuttered at the various things mounted on the walls. There were pictures hanging like anyone could expect, but there were also mountings of animal heads. I did have to admit, many people did have the heads of an animal they killed while hunting stuffed and mounted on a plaque on the wall, for example a deer but these were different. Instead of your usual furry woodland creatures, there were the head of Goars, Scorporillas, Spikes, Shellephants, and some others that I hadn't encountered yet and frankly didn't want to encounter. There was one that looked like it was some sort of fish or eel, one was of what appeared to be a bat, and another was a turtle. There were genetically altered tiger heads, a fox or coyote, and a rather strange one that looked like a skunk-bird hybrid.

Along with the taxidermy covering the walls, the hallway itself was eerily clean. Even the floor was clean, shiny and reflective and the purple zebra striped carpet, which had an amazing similar texture to troll doll hair, was clean and fluffy. A grand piano was in a room to the left of the hallway but it was alone. We walked down the rounded part of the hallway, we were passed by about three or four short, high-pitched, preppy badger-like girls clad in plaid skirts. They talked on and on with each other but bowed their heads when they passed by Ramona. That small gesture only proved how high on the chain of command Ramona was.

"This has to be Nina's section in the castle," Carmelita whispered as quietly as she could, "Just look at how it's decorated." I nodded. After we had walked for what had seemed like forever, Ramona stopped in front of an electric door. She pulled out a control panel from the wall, and quickly typed in a long string of numbers. The large lock on the door, clad with the Cortex symbol, turned twice and the door opened. Ramona glanced back to us briefly, glared, snarled, and pulled us forward. She was clearly irritated about something and was planning to take it out on us. After we had passed through the threshold of the door, we were met by another one of Ramona's brothers.

Despite him being younger than Ramona, this man was huge. He was definitely larger than Murray and he was almost larger than my enemy Muggshot. The fact the man had a robotic arm just made him even more intimidating. He placed one of his hands on Carmelita's shoulder to show he was getting ready to take her to another section of the castle and turned his attention to Ramona. She started back and sighed in thought. She absent mindedly twirled my cane in her fingers in thought and eventually spoke.

"Get her down to room thirty-six and get a technician down there with an arm clamp and get everything set up," she pointed to her sister, "and take this and do something with it." She handed her brother my cane and I got ready to snatch it, but my paws were bound behind me and going up against him would get me ground to a pulp.

"What do you want me to do with it?" he asked but was replied but a huff from his sister.

"Break it, melt it, sell it, beat someone with it I don't care. Just get rid of it." she growled our before dismissing her brother. He nodded himself and dragged Carmelita along with him.

"That cane has been in my family generations, Bandicoot." I growled out. I knew it wasn't the real Ramona talking but having to get used to the newly angered Ramona was a difficult. She spun on her heels and narrowed her eyes. She was standing almost nose to nose with me and I could heard and growl start to form from the female.

"I don't care, Cooper. I don't care what type of sentimental value that stupid hunk of metal means to you. It's stupid that you always carry that thing with you. I swear you're worse than a toddler with a stuffed animal." My tail furred and I couldn't help but let a short growl out. This of course only made her ego grow.

"Awww," she mocked with a childlike voice, "Did I make the low-down thief mad?" she ruffled the fur on the side of my face and I snatched my head back, "Well deal with it, Cooper. I have no soft spots for anyone and I certainly don't have a soft spot for scum like yourself." He voice was cold and harsh. She smirked to herself before pulling me forward again. She led me towards another door, similar to the one we had just walked though, and put in a security code. The doors opened and we stepped in silently.

"Welcome to the construction room, maggot," she beamed, "Here is where we will conquer the world and this," she pointed forward, "is what we will use." I looked to where she was pointing and felt my eyes almost pop out of my skull at the sight before me.


	12. Chapter 12: Preparation for Control

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer:** I own all of my original characters.

_I'm sorry for the long updates but sadly my laptop has another virus and I can't update as often as I want to until I get my laptop back from the company. So, I can type my chapters on my desktop computer but can't upload them to the story since this computer had no Internet access. So, I can only upload when I go to a friend's house and get a 5-minute chance and update. So…please be patient with me and I should have my laptop back by May 1st but I'm working on it. Oh, and by the way, please look at my profile page for updates on stories or information I need to get out there. But anyway, please read and review and let me know what you think!_

Chapter 12: Preparation for Control

Even though Crunch was my younger brother, I did have to admit that I was intimidated by his size. He only had one had on my neck and the distance between his thumb and pinky reached from shoulder to shoulder. He towered over me and his strength was greater than my own so fighting back was out of the question. I sighed as he walked me down the quiet corridor. According to Ramona, who had also been turned against me, had told my brother to take me to get fitted for an arm clamp of my own. The devices were the things that caused anyone to succumb to the mind control. Ramona was now a tyrant and Crunch was now a button-pushing monkey who took orders from everyone, the exact opposite of their true personalities. I could only assume that the same had happened to the rest of my siblings since I had seen them. Ramona had also mentioned something about a construction line and it could only make me wonder what Cortex was planning this time.

I remember the last time I had dealt with him he was building some robotic version of my younger brother and tried to have it stomp everyone. Thankfully, it wasn't successful and easily went down with a few blasts of my shock pistol. But now, I had no idea what was being built. I was led down flight after flight of stairs and was starting to wonder where we were going. Sly and been left with Ramona and there was no telling what she was planning on doing with the guy. I felt bad for her though. That blasted raccoon constantly flirted with the two of us and Ramona always had a history of getting hurt by people, especially men. That's one of the reasons why Ramona hadn't dated anyone in so long and why I could only assume why she felt comfortable around him. They were thieves, raccoons, the same age, had similar stories when they were kids and met each other at a young age. I didn't know if she knew he flirted with both of us and if she didn't know and she found out through the grapevine, she'd be crushed. I shook the thought from my brain and continued to follow my brother down the stairs.

"Tell me, Crunch," I started, "Who's in charge? What's the chain of command around here?" he led me through a door at the end of the stairs, which led to another long hallway.

"Neo Cortex is head of everything, then Nina Cortex, then Ramona, then you, and everyone else works for you four."

"Me?" I questioned, "but I'm completely against this!" he shook his head.

"Not for long." He said before turning abruptly to the right and taking me into another room. This room was relatively empty with the exception of a chair in the center and a control center on each side of the room. I spotted Coco standing near one of the control boards, searching through the database. Charlotte was at the other one and was working on one of the arm devices; mine most likely. I was halted abruptly and my brother released his grip on me. I looked around the room and my gaze landed on something in particular. Six masks were mounted on the wall and for all the years I had chased my siblings, I knew exactly what they were for.

Cortex had succeeded in finding the six masks from the Mojo temple and I could only imagine what he had in store for them. The four masks that had to do with the elements, were extremely powerful and gave the wearer unlimited power over the element pertaining to that one mask, or so the legends went. The other two were similar to the yin and yang symbols in China, the good and the bad. There was no telling what they could do and frankly I didn't want to find out. I spotted that koala from the Cooper gang sitting near the masks. Like my siblings, his arm housed an arm clamp and there was no doubt that his mind was fogged over by Cortex.

I grunted when I was thrown harshly into the chair and swiftly restrained inside. I was held down by my wrists and ankles and I was determined to put up a fight. I still had free movements of my head and mouth so I could still bite if I had to. I watched and fidgeted when I saw Coco kneel down next to my arm that had been branded a few days ago and cleaned it carefully with a medical wipe. Now of all times is when I wished I had my jacket, which had been lost a long time ago and the ride to the castle. I hissed that the cold feeling of rubbing alcohol on the still sensitive wound and my head was restrained by my brother. His muscular pressed against my throat and kept me from moving.

"Now," my little sister said as she took the device from Charlotte, "this is going to sting just a little bit." I still wriggled against my restraints to delay her. She sighed and handed the arm clamp back to the fox.

"Cooperate, Carmelita." I shook my head and she rolled her eyes before going to the back of the room to do something.

I couldn't quite see what she was doing but I knew my heart rate was increasing. I squirmed even more when she returned with a syringe and hissed a few times. She chuckled and swiftly stuck the needle in my arm underneath the brand. It only took a few seconds until my muscles started to relax and I suddenly didn't have any will power to fight back. It also didn't take me long to realize that for the second time this week I'd been smacked with a heavy drug. I could only sit and watch as my sister once again pulled out the arm device. I noticed there were little spikes covering the inside, which would allow it to latch into my skin. She got it in line over the burned flesh and quickly clamped it on. I howled in pain and hear her lock the device in place. I still had no energy and could only sit there and wait for things to unfold. I watched my sister walk to her computer console and start typing away.

"We'll give it some time for it to adjust to your system before we install anything." She mused, "Thankfully it won't take too long for it to kick in. if Ramona finds out how long this is taking…I don't even want to know what she'll do." She shivered at her thought and returned to her computer.

"Morons!" Ramona's voice boomed over the intercom, "You'd better have that device on that fox or I'm coming down there!"

"It's on, ma'am!" Charlotte's voice was shaky but loud, "Just waiting for it to register in her system!" Ramona growled and started again.

"You'd better have it installed by the next hour or you answer to me! The boss wants this part done and get that machine up and running! The more workers we have working on it the quicker we get it done and he stays happy! Now get it done!" she shouted before clicking the intercom off. The two girls sighed and turned back to the computer. I was completely useless and I knew it would only take a few minutes before I became another one of Cortex's slaves. I knew that it was now up to Cooper to get us out of this; that is unless Ramona tore him down first. She was a good person, but if you made her mad she could tear down your self-esteem in the blink of an eye. If she ended up doing that to Cooper, we were all doomed.

_Quick note, just incase I made it unclear, all of the other 11 siblings were under mind control before this chapter took place, just incase I made that unclear. And again I'm sorry for the gaps in updates and they won't be smooth until I get my laptop fixed. Which should hopefully be by May 1st, hopefully! But please review and let me know what you think. Thanks! (: _


	13. Chapter 13: Quarreling Thieves

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_To be honest I had planned for this chapter to be better but since the virus on my laptop I can't type as often and I keep forgetting my ideas! But, I did try to make this as good as possible and I'm still waiting for my laptop to get back from the shop, but until then…slow updates. _**I did go back and fix the errors in this and added a few things so please re-read before reading chapter 14! And I know I did mention something about an alternate ending ****but please disregard that****…I got to thinking and re-thinking about the ending and I've got something else in mind that'll lead to another story so please never mind that. But feel free to say who you think will win it out in the end and sorry for the confusion!**

Chapter 13: Quarreling Thieves

"What is that thing?" I asked after Ramona slammed the phone of the intercom back in its holder.

"That," she pointed to the machine in front of us, "is Cortex's greatest achievement. Other than this castle and the brainless mutants he has running around here, that is, the Doomerator will do things people have only dreamed of." she smirked to herself and I stared at the machine again. It was big, metal, and un-complete but when it was there would be no doubt the damage it could do. It was a model of Cortex only on a lot bigger scale.

"The Doomerator?" I repeated. She turned to me quickly and shrugged. She yanked me forward again by the shirt and she led me past the towering machine. I could faintly make out the outlines of the workers but I couldn't see any faces. I looked for any sign of the members on the team but the workers were too far up for me to get a good glance. I could only assume that Ramona was high up in the ranks in the tower but how far up she was, that was still a mystery. Ever since her mind had been taken over, she had changed drastically. She was cold, mean, rude, violent, and not the Ramona I knew. She had even sold out her own sister to Cortex and I had the feeling she was going to do the same with me. If I could get away from her long enough, get my cane, and find Bentley then we might be able to solve this. The only problem was thinking of a way to distract her.

"You know," I said after we had made it into an empty hallway that was still decorated like the first one we had walked through, "Has anyone told you today that you are exceptionally pretty today, pretty lady?" I thought that if I could smooth talk my way away from her then things would go well. But I soon found out that was a horrible idea. Her paw quickly wrapped around my throat and slammed me into the wall.

"Don't you even try your smooth talk, Cooper," she threatened, "If you want to use it then save it for my sister. You seem to use it quite often with her." she jerked her paw away from my throat and yanked me forward.

"I don't use it with your sister, Ramona. I think this Cortex stuff has gone to your head and made you paranoid." she whirled around and was instantly nose to nose with me. I could feel her breath hitting against my face and the anger start to rise within her.

"Don't lie to me, Cooper. I know you use it with get because I see it almost every day. You go and flirt her up then do the same with me. And I'll tell you something right now, it will never happen again. And if you ask me, you are nothing but a commitment phobic."

"I am not a commitment phobic!" I couldn't help but shout at her.

"Then why can't you pick one girl and stick with her, huh? As long as I've known you I have never seen you in a long-term relationship once! You either flirt with my sister or me and it won't fly anymore!" she pointed a finger in my face and kept ranting, "Let me make this clear," her voice was cold, "Either choose her and leave me alone, choose me and leave her alone, or choose neither of us and leave us both alone."

"You haven't been in one either!" I yelled back, "You scare all of them off! You're lucky to even have me after you part of the time! Without me going after you then you'd be a lonely woman with no romantic aspects what so ever! The fact that I'm the only person chasing after you only shows something about your personality, Bandicoot!" I knew yelling wasn't going to help my situation but I couldn't help it. I knew I'd regret it later, both physically and emotionally.

"My personality?" she roared, "And my sister has a better personality than me? She's been trying to arrest you, has called you everything imaginable and I'm the one with the bad personality? The way you go chasing after makes you look like a pathetic puppy looking for it's mother! And that's not all!" she was screaming at this point and someone was bound to hear us eventually, "You act as if I have any types of feelings for you back and let me tell you something, I don't! If I did you wouldn't be in chains and you wouldn't be here, but look where you are now! Stuck under my thumb and without your precious Carmelita to flirt your way through things so you turn to me! But it won't work, Cooper! I am so tired of being played by men, and I won't take it from you!"

"You are so stubborn, Ramona! I'm not trying to screw with your head on anything! Give me one instant where I have played you! Just one!"

"Last month!" she screeched, "You took me to dinner Friday and then on Saturday I see you with my sister at the same restaurant, the same table, and you ordered the same thing! Every time I see you, you throw 'pretty lady' in there somewhere and what did you call her earlier today? You stop by my apartment one night then the next day I see Carmelita and she tells me how you snuck into her apartment the same night so say hello! You kissed me after a heist then twenty minutes later, I'm going home and guess who I see kissing my sister on a rooftop! The time we both got arrested at the museum, you flirted with her to get out and left me to deal with my brothers! On Valentines Day you leave flowers and a 'note from the heart' and come to find out you wrote the same note to her!" I opened my mouth to speak but she kept screaming away, "But then every time I find a man I might want to start a relationship with, _you're _thereto screw it up! You saved me from the Phantom twice and instead of making some sort of move you do nothing! Especially the last time! I told you specifically that you had my heart to yourself and you brushed it off like it was nothing but instead I find you flirting with my sister the next afternoon!"

"You didn't say that, Ramona! You said someone! For all I know it could have been me or not been me!"

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out, Cooper! A woman says to you 'someone owns my heart', winks, and then kisses you," she threw her arms up in the air and ranted, "Oh, that's a hard one to figure out!"

"So is all of this a jealousy thing with your sister? Is that why you fell under Cortex so easily?" I roared back. We were both loosing out temper and there would be no telling how far our screaming match would go.

"No! His machines are powerful, Cooper. You wouldn't understand that!" her paws landed on her hips and roller her eyes.

"You are such a brat and a moron, Ramona! You don't listen to anything, do you?"

"Oh really?" her echoed on the walls, "You want to know what I think about _you?_"

"Please tell me, I'm dying to know!" I yelled back. We were reaching our boiling points and I was sure she was going to blow first.

"You are nothing but a low-down, dirty, rotten, womanizing, commitment fearing, cowardly, fat-headed, proud, thieving jackass and I hate you!" things were eerily quiet afterwards and there wasn't a sound coming out of either of us. I did have to admit, her words stung like a bee but she couldn't know that yet, "I swear the moment Cortex is through with you you're out of here, permanently and I'll see to it personally!" she threatened.

She pulled me forward again and we continued out journey down the hall. I was still enraged by our fresh yelling match but I knew it couldn't possibly be the real Ramona that I knew and loved talking, or was it? I watched as she stormed her way through the hall and eventually made her way to an automated door. She angrily put in a string of numbers and the door opened. She shoved me inside and followed in suit. I heard the door slam behind me before Ramona yanked me into a chair next to a relatively large desk. I could only assume this was her office after she seated herself at the desk and turned to the paperwork scattered on it. tried to make self comfortable in the chair when Ramona snapped again.

"You move or try to escape, Cooper," she growled, "and you will be ripped to shreds." I rolled my eyes at her comment.

"How? You're not that strong, Ramona." she snapped her fingers in a response and I sat immediately. In the corner of her off was another one of the mutants made here, a large one. It was a cross between a tiger, a rhino, and possibly an armadillo. I could see the fangs and overly sharp claws and the armor on the animal was thick. Any attempt to defend myself would end in failure. I sat silently and planned on how I would get out of this and get Ramona back while she sat and did paperwork.


	14. Chapter 14: Turned Against Each Other

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_First of all, I want to apologize for all the grammatical errors in chapter 13! _**I did go back, fix them, and added things so please go back and re-read!**_ Since my laptop was hit with a virus I could use word to type the chapter and the spell check on the program I was using wasn't too good. But, I do have word on the desktop computer I have so I can type there and have to be at the mercy of fate when I can update. My laptop, where I usually post updates from, still has a virus and frankly I haven't even been able to send it off yet and probably won't be able to even get it to send it off until Tuesday and then there's no telling when I can get is back. So, until the virus is off that computer, I don't know when I can update. But, I haven't forgotten about this story so please be patient! But, please read and review and let me know what you think!_

Chapter 14: Turned Against Each Other

I glanced around Ramona's office silently. There was a desk lamp and a few table lamps lit but other than that the room was dark. The desk Ramona was seated at was solid mahogany and polished with a shine. Papers were scattered across the desk and a computer sat in the corner, currently turned off. A phone that could also be used as an intercom was placed neatly next to the computer, currently unused. Chairs, similar to the one I was sitting in, were placed in front of the desk and it looked like you had just walked into a lawyer's office. Behind me, a fireplace burned radiantly and warmed the small room quite well.

The 'pet', if that's what you could call it, that Ramona kept in her office was asleep beside me but looked like it could wake up at any minute. A map was hung up on the wall behind Ramona and the symbol of Cortex was plastered on certain places on the map. Files could be seen on the corner of Ramona's desk and I could read a few of the names on the tabs. My name, along with her siblings and the names of my team members were written on them. I finally glanced to Ramona, who was still scribbling away on papers, and sighed. I had been seated in her office for over an hour and it had been silent the entire time. Ramona finally stood up from her seat and stretched.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked after she briefly glanced to me. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"About what?" she hissed. It was obvious she was still angry about the yelling match we had in the hallway and hour before and was in no mood to talk.

"Our 'conversation'." I mumbled. I figured if I could get back on her good side then I could think of a decent plan. I had lost my temper in the hall and let my mouth control my thoughts and I was regretting a majority of what I said to Ramona. She took the papers from the folders with names on it and started attaching them to the wall behind the desk but next to the map. She put up all the papers before briefly turning to me.

"As far as I'm concerned, you made it perfectly clear on what your beliefs are." She growled as she passed by my chair and deliberately slammed her shoulder into the chair. I turned and watched as she walked to the fireplace and placed one of the pokers in the flames to allow it to heat up.

"I know what I said, but that's what I wanted to talk about." Her back was to me and she kept her eye on the fire poker in the flames.

"There's nothing to discuss, Cooper. We made it perfectly clear that I hate you and you're about as constant as the tides when it comes to relationships." Ramona took the poker from the fire and I could see it glow faintly red from the heat.

"But if you _ever_ talk like that to me again," she paused, leaned her face close to mine, and placed the poker between us. I could feel the heat radiate from the iron and I felt my heart race at the thought beginning to form in my head that she was about to place that on my skin. She shook her head to finish her sentence and straightened her posture. She walked to the papers on the wall and pressed the poker to each paper. The heat from the paper burned the mark on the paper but didn't let it burn through. The symbol of Cortex was present on the papers and I could clearly read the names on them as Ramona replaced the poker. Each paper that was stamped was about each person that was under the control of Cortex and his niece. She came back to the papers and removed them from the wall, checked the walls for damage, and replaced the papers in the folder.

"Kala," Ramona directed her voice to the sleeping mutant beside me, "Take these to Cortex, go." The mutant stood, stretched, yawned, and took the folder in her mouth and proceeded to walk out of the room. Ramona left the door open so the creature could come back in without making a disturbance and a plan started to form in my mind.

Since my paws were still bound behind my back, it gave me the chance to pick the lock without Ramona noticing. Now that the threatening mutant was gone, my only obstacle keeping me from leaving was Ramona. I knew I could easily escape from her if I could find the perfect opportunity for escape. Ramona seated herself back at her desk and turned the computer monitor on and turned her attention to the screen. She typed away and the constant clicks of the computer keys provided the perfect cover of the lock clicking on my restraints. After the lock was open, I silently slipped them off my wrists but stayed in my chair. I'd decided to wait until Ramona turned her back to bolt but I had to do it before her pet returned. I glanced around the room and found two things that had caught my eye. One of them was a book resting on the corner of her desk. It was an instruction manual on the arm devices, like the one she had on her arm, and I knew that would come in handy. Another was the plan outline Ramona had posted on the wall in front of me. It was an outline of the machine I had seen when Ramona brought me to her office. I could see the floors that were currently being worked on and figured that was were I could find Bentley. If Bentley was also under the control of Cortex, if I could read the manual on the device I could get the device off of him and get him back on my side.

"Hey, Ramona," I said after a few moments of thinking, "What's that over there?" I referred to the plans in front of me. She rolled her head to face me and huffed. She turned her attention to the plans.

"Doomerator plans," she started but as soon as her back was turned, I leaned forward, grabbed the instruction manual, and bolted for the door. I had gotten a few steps into the hallway before I heard Ramona's voice behind me.

"Cooper!" she roared and the sounds of her footsteps started up behind me. I quickly shoved the manual in my leg pouch and ran. I turned a corner and was met with another long hallway. I zoomed down the hall and I could hear the flustered raccoon behind me. It felt strange running away without my cane and I'd find it before this was over and something happened to it. But until then, I was defenseless and weaponless in a place filled with guards, mutants, and Ramona. I flew past mounded heads of mutants on the wall and a few workers. Pretty soon, Ramona wasn't the only one chasing me, but she certainly was the loudest. I ran as fast as my feet would carry me and I was constantly on the look out for a place to hide.

I twisted and turned through the various hallways and the amount of guards chasing me grew rapidly. It wasn't long before I heard a few of Ramona's siblings help case me down but I kept running. I turned left down a hallway and realized I was nearing the construction site where they were building the Doomerator. I spotted a pipe to the right and went for it. I quickly started climbing up and smirked when I realized the guards couldn't climb up after me. Then the smirk went away when I remembered Ramona could. I could hear her beneath me and I could hear her growl loudly. I pulled myself up onto a construction beam and bolted across. I jumped over workers and spotted Bentley across on another beam. I could spot a device on his arm and knew I'd have to read the manual to figure out how to get it off. But first, I'd have to loose Ramona.

"Cooper!" I was halfway across the beam when she finally pulled herself up. I kept my balance on the strip of metal and felt somewhat safe when my feet landed on a solid platform. I quickly climbed up a ladder that led to the next level and Ramona wasn't far behind me.

I ran across another beam and quickly glanced to my left and could see a way that would get me to Bentley. All I had to do was get away from Ramona, however it was obvious she wasn't going to give up the chase anytime soon. I had made it to the second platform when another thing caught my eye. I ducked behind a beam and waited for Ramona to get to the platform. After I was sure her feet were firmly on the ground, I grabbed her from behind and she instantly started kicking and trying to bite my arms away. She was feisty when she was mad but I was positive I could get away from her. I had noticed a hook hanging off of the machine itself and knew it was the perfect was to hold Ramona to one place. We were on the beams the workers worked on to build the machine but the hook was actually on the machine. The hook I was looking at was a good few feet from the platform and myself. I quickly leaned forward and attached her back belt loop to the hook. I made sure she was secure and wouldn't fall before letting go of her waist and I stood back, keeping my eye on her to make sure she wouldn't fall to her death. Even thought things were bad between us know, I wasn't about to let her die.

I stepped back as she started swatting and screaming at me and I pulled out the manual from my pouch. I flipped through the book and found the section on how to turn off and get the device off a person. I quickly but thoroughly read it before shoving the book back in my bag. I took one last glance to Ramona, who was swaying lightly but screaming for me to get her down. I quickly ran away from the suspended raccoon and towards the beam Bentley's wheelchair was parked on. It took a few minutes but I eventually made it. I quietly snuck up behind him and pulled his wheelchair back until we were both on the platform I had left Ramona dangling next to. He started to fight me off until I twisted the letter N in the device clockwise, pulled it out, twisted counter clockwise, and pushed it back it. The red light flashed twice, turned green, flashed twice, and died. The device popped open and I quickly yanked it off my friend. I threw it off the edge of the platform and to the ground a good thirty feet below. It didn't take long for Bentley to regain his thoughts and recognize me. I smiled victoriously as I realized I now had a fighting chance of getting everything back to normal.

"Thanks, Sly," he said before turning his attention to a nearly hysterical Ramona. She hated extreme heights and being suspended by a belt loop thirty feet above a cement floor couldn't be pleasant. But, I needed a way to get her off my case until I could get Bentley back on our side. She glanced to me briefly and growled. She looked towards the ground and started yelling.

"Fox!" she yelled to someone below us.

"Yes ma'am?" I dreaded the extremely recognizable voice. I looked to where Ramona was yelling and spotted a device wearing Carmelita on the floor below us.

"Get that raccoon and turtle!" she yelled at her sister, "And somebody get me down from here!" she shriek her last sentence as I looked to Carmelita again. She glanced to me and growled. I could see another mind control device on her arm and knew that we had been turned against each other.


	15. Chapter 15: Hunted

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_Ok, I'm really, really, really sorry about the long updates but I finally got my laptop back! So, somewhat annual updates are back! But the good news is that while my laptop was in the shop, I had a long time to think and I have another story idea I plan on doing after this one. However, I have a beginning and a slight idea in mind and that's it. No plot, no ending in mind, but it's in the works. But this story still has another 10 chapters or so left so I have plenty of time to think of something. So, please read and review and let me know what you think about this chapter and the story so far and feel free to add in opinions/suggestions, I'm up for listening. Thanks(:_

Chapter 15: Hunted

I growled as I saw Cooper and his turtle peer down at me. I was only a level below them but with that small advantage, they could still get away. My fur bristled when I saw that he had left my sister dangling thirty feet in the air but thankfully a couple of others were on their way to get her down. I cleared my thoughts and ran towards the ladder to take me to the next level. I bolted up the ladder and heard my boots slam against the rungs of the metal ladder as I chased after that blasted raccoon and his companion. I growled when I reached my desired floor and realized they had fled up another flight in the meantime. I shook briefly with rage and climbed the second ladder. Every time I'd get to the level they were just on, they already had moved up another. They were reaching close to the roof and I knew they'd be stuck. Sure, Cooper could glide off the roof but he couldn't take his friend with him. Since the turtle was in a wheelchair, he couldn't float down with Sly. I would have them cornered on the roof and then Ramona could do what she wanted with them.

I grunted softly as I pulled myself up the next ladder and I was closing in on the two thieves. I could see Bentley wheel his chair as fast as he could as I continued to catch up to them. I didn't have my shock pistol but I was still determined to hunt them down. They eventually stopped climbing ladders and stuck to the hallways. The two men rounded a corner to the right and I was right on their heels. I could tell the turtle was loosing strength in his arms and it wouldn't take long for them to give out and I could at least have the turtle back on our side. We already had the rest of Cooper's gang on our side but having the brains of their team back with them could turn against us. The two men split off from each other, Cooper going to the right and the turtle going to the left. I followed the raccoon and I figured one of my brothers would track him down.

"Cooper!" I yelled as I chased the tail of the thief. He quickly shot a glance behind me and ran faster. For once, he wasn't shooting back flirtatious comments to me. I sped up myself and was catching up with Sly. I could hear him start to huff out his breaths as he tried to stay in front of me. I also realized he was still defenseless. Ramona had my brother take his cane somewhere in the castle and had probably already been melted down into scrap metal by now. I smirked at this thought and stayed on his tail.

"Give it up, Cooper!" I yelled, "You can't run forever!" he glanced back again but this time had a smirk spread across his smug face.

"No," he shouted behind me, "but you still can't climb pipes!" the next thing I knew he was climbing his way up a pipe on the side of the wall. He was right, I couldn't climb pipe, but I could climb a staircase. I growled, slapped my palm against the side of the pipe, and stormed up the nearest staircase. The pipe he was climbing up was one of the pipes that kept air circulating throughout the building so it connected to the air conditioner connected to the inside part of the roof. After he reached that, if he went that far, he'd have to find another exit on the top floor; which is exactly where I was going. I finally reached the top floor but there was still no sign of the raccoon. I had a brief moment of panic when I realized that if I returned without Sly, Ramona would have my head served on a silver platter. I shivered at the thought and was determined to find the raccoon.

I snapped my head to the side and smirked when I saw Sly bolting down the hallway. I followed behind him and was starting to close in on him for the final attempt to tackle him. Our feet pounded on the ground as we ran and I was getting closer and closer to him. He took the final ladder up to the roof and I followed in suit. I had to admit, it was never easy or fun chasing that raccoon but at least you could get a good workout from it. I pulled myself up through the hatch in the roof and kept trying to hunt down the thief ahead of me. We both skidded to a stop when he reached the edge of the building and we realized the only way he was going to get down was by paragliding to the ground. He turned around to face me and we both took a few minutes to catch out breath before bantering back and forth.

"You have no where to run, Cooper. You don't have a weapon either." He smirked and shook his head.

"You don't have one either, Ms. Fox. However, I have a way down." He pointed to the ground a good thirty stories below.

"You won't do it," I smirked while crossing my arms over my chest, "Everyone you work with only listens to me or my sister, you're alone on this. You'd be better off joining us." He rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"I have my ways, Ms. Fox. I have my ways." He winked briefly before taking a leap off the edge of the building. I felt my eyes widen as I rushed to the edge and peered over the side. I could see the emblem on his paraglider get smaller and smaller as he got closer to the ground and I mentally slapped myself. Ramona was going to kill me. I reported strictly to her and if she knew I had just lost one of our major enemies escape and he took the arm device off his friend. We lost one worker and another potential worker. I felt my stomach twisted when I turned and could see Ramona pulling her way up through the hatch on the roof. I knew I was getting ready to hear an earful and I dreaded it.

"Did you catch him?" she questioned after she strolled up next to me. I shook my head and avoided eye contact with her.

"No, he jumped and paraglided off." She nodded and shifted her bangs.

"Don't worry about it," she said, "I know how to get him back in here. Just get me a few bracelet technicians down on the ground floor now and get them to start working on the plans I've got sketched. We get that brace into working order, we get Cooper and that turtle," she walked to the edge of the building and looked down, "And by the way," she continued, "that turtle broke into the supply room and stole Cooper's cane. He's armed so keep your guard up." She turned to me and narrowed her eyes, "Don't just stand there, get those technicians to work!" she pointed her finger to the hatch and I nodded quickly and got to work. The last thing I wanted to do was get her riled up right after I had been the one to loose Cooper. I had just touched down on the ground when her voice broke the air again.

"And if they're not down there by the time I am your head is mine, Fox!"


	16. Chapter 16: Strange Behavior in the Wood

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_Well, here's chapter 16! I don't really have that much to say but I'm still working on the plot for the next story and I'll keep everyone updated when I finally get a plot. Anyway, please read and review and let me know what you think._

Chapter 16: Strange Behavior in the Woods

My feet touched down on the ground softly after I jumped from the roof of the castle. I still had my earpiece connected to Bentley's and I could get a slight signal. I decided to get away from the castle before making an attempt to contact Bentley. I didn't want to be spotted by guards and there was no telling if the radio frequency we used would interfere with Cortex's signals. I wasn't one to take changes in situations like this so I started my quick journey through the woods. I was coming back, there was no doubt about that but I couldn't come back without a plan. Ramon and her sister were too powerful while they were still under the control of Cortex and his niece. By this point, I wasn't sure who was the mastermind behind everything that had been built recently, including the machine I had seen when I first came in, but I knew all of them had to be stopped and that machine had to be destroyed. If that machine was destroyed, along with the base for the arm bracelets, then things could go back to normal. Carmelita would arrest Cortex, his niece, and his cronies while I escaped with my gang. Ramona would more than likely go with her brothers and sisters and return to Paris for a while before thieving again.

"Sly!" I heard Bentley from a few feet away and sighed happily when I noticed he was still in one piece, "I found your cane! Did you find anything else out in the meantime?" he asked when he finally rolled his chair up to me. I shook my head and looked back to the castle and sighed.

"But I do know things are getting worse around here. Ramona and Carmelita are tyrants, I can't find any or our guys, security is tight at the castle, mutants are running around everywhere, and they are close to finishing that machine. If they get that up and running then we're screwed." Bentley nodded in agreement. We briefly glanced to each other before trekking away from the castle. We'd come back to not only free the members of the gang but Ramona and her family as well.

"You have a plan yet?" I asked after we had made it a good distance from the fortress looming behind us.

"Nothing," he muttered, "So far it's two against sixteen and countless guards along with mutants and Cortex." You have your cane and I have my wheelchair but other than that we're completely weaponless. They have numerous weapons in there along with Ramona and Carmelita and we both know their temper." He shuttered and I smirked. Bentley never cared for either of the two women and was never fond of me spending time with either of them.

He was constantly telling me that staying around Carmelita could get us landed in jail. He also said that being around Ramona would only cause our team to fall from the top. This of course only made me go around them more and more. However, I had a bad habit of flirting with the both of them and after my last conversation with Ramona, I think it's starting to jealousy and tension between the two females. I'd have to pick one of them, but which one was the question. I briefly took my mind off the substance while Bentley and I rested against a tree. We'd decided to set up a makeshift camp here and plan for the rest of the night. It was starting to get dark outside and we wanted to rest before it got too dark to see anything. We'd plan for the rest of the night, get some rest, and put everything into action in the morning. I sighed and twirled my cane in my grasp.

"Sly," Bentley said after we had been sitting in silence for a while, "What are you going to do with Ramona and Inspector Fox? Everyone heard the screaming match you and Ramona had and I have to say I told you so! I told you that your constant flirting would eventually lead to jealousy between the two and now you have to make your choice." I nodded.

"I know I do. But I'm straightening this problem out before even dwelling on that matter." He rolled his eyes.

"You don't get it! When this is over, we're calling in that favor to Dimitri that we promised him in Holland and then we're going for the Cooper Vault. We both know Carmelita will be on our tails but what about Ramona? Are you just going to leave her in the dust and not tell her anything?"

"I don't have anything to tell her, Bentley." He scoffed and wheeled his chair in front of me.

"Yes you do! I know exactly how you feel about her, Sly! You've told me countless times that you had intense feelings for you and you even said you loved her a few times. Have you ever felt that way towards Carmelita?" I shrugged. I really didn't know how I felt. There were certain things about both women that I liked but honestly having to choose one was difficult.

"I'll talk to her before we leave," I muttered, "but, to answer your question, no. I don't have the same feelings for Carmelita, I have more for Ramona," I met his gaze briefly, "it's always been like that."

"Then let her know!" he practically yelled while I smiled and nodded. I decided that I would talk things out with Ramona and let her know how I feel after this was over but before I left to call in that favor for Dimitri. I yawned and rested my head against the trunk of the tree and decided I would try and get a few minutes of sleep before planning anything.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

A terrified shriek snapped me from my nap. I quickly looked to Bentley to make sure he was fine. He was just as surprised as I was and he agreed with me that the shriek came from a woman. We both got to our feet to figure out what was going on. I held my cane defensively and turned my head in the direction the shriek had come from. I could hear rusting in the bushed near us. I got ready to attack when I realized who it was. A completely freaked out Ramona came bolting from the bushes. The first thing I noticed was that the device on her arm was missing. I could tell she had been scared out of her mind by the way she was running and she only got worse when she careened into me. She ran into my side and fell to the ground, landing with a thud. She glanced up to me and backed up quickly. She stopped when her back hit a tree. I glanced to Bentley, who had wheeled up to me, and raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to you?" he asked when she started shuttering at the sight of us.

"Don't even try that with me!" she shouted, "I know you're working with Cortex!" I shook my head and knelt down beside her. I looked at her arm where the bracelet had been. The imprint of the device could still be seen but the device was missing.

"What happened?" I asked softly. Her gaze slowly met mine and I could see the terror in her multicolored eyes.

"The control panel that controlled the bracelets exploded. The devices were shocked and rendered useless and unlocked themselves. I managed to escape but my family is still in there and so are your friends! You've got to help me, Sly! It won't take long for Cortex to get everything working again. I have a plan in mind but I'll need your help. Bentley also, I'm not that smart to figure everything out. Please."

"Alright," I said, "What's the plan?" she moved her bangs and continued.

"It's simple. I know an escape route but I need help getting everyone out. All you have to do is follow me back inside the castle and help me round everyone up. But you have to go inside, that's vital." I nodded and agreed. Ramona stood quickly and started pulling me in the direction of the castle. I had no idea what she had in mind but I had to get my friends out of there and now that the bracelets were zapped, it'd be easier to do.


	17. Chapter 17: Stabbed in the Back

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_Chapter 17 is done! And sorry for the delay in an update, I was busy this weekend. When my uncle died in March, my mom and I were stuck with all of his stuff and it's been up to us to sell some of the random trinkets he had and sell them so we could give the money to my grandfather to help pay for the expenses of the funeral. But, we finally got most of the stuff taken care of and I finally got a chance to type this chapter up and post it. So, please read and review and let me know what you think! (: _

Chapter 17: Stabbed in the Back

"This way, quickly." Ramona whispered as she pulled me through the thicket surrounding the castle. She had me by the wrist and was quickly pulling me forward. Bentley was close behind us and I could tell he was uneasy about the entire incident. It was only last night that Ramona was trying to kill us and under the control of Cortex, but now she was in desperate need of getting her siblings free from the castle. He thought that this was all some sort of trick to get us back in the castle but I wasn't so sure. The mind control device was no longer on Ramona's arm and she was still acting a little strange. Maybe it was the thought of loosing her family that messed with her at the moment, but she was determined to get us back inside that castle. She stopped briefly and surveyed the surroundings while I waited for Bentley to catch up.

"Are you sure about this, Sly?" Bentley whispered after Ramona had gotten ahead of us a good bit, "Do you trust her?" I nodded and glanced to the female. She was making sure we were alone and that no one was coming towards us.

"Yeah," I muttered after I turned my attention back to my friends, "I think she's just worried. Either that or there are some sort of side effects from that bracelet." I could tell Bentley still didn't think was a good idea but I wasn't going to make her do this alone. She needed help saving her brothers and sisters and I was more that willing to help. That and things were still sketchy between us so if I could get back on her good side, I might have a better chance of telling her how I feel when this ends without her beating me down or completely ignoring me. I glanced back to Ramona and watched as she pulled her hair down from her normal ponytail, fluffed it, and pulled it up again. Something was bugging her but what it was, was a mystery to me. She quickly motioned us closer and we followed. I stopped behind her and listened to her as she pointed to the castle.

"There's an opening on the east side of the castle," she mumbled, "That's how I got out but we can go in that way also. It's the entrance to the basement but on the other side of it are the holding cells. That's where they're keeping my family and your friends." I nodded and looked to where she was pointing.

"That entrance is small," I told Ramona, "Bentley won't be able to get his wheelchair to fit inside." She glanced to me and nodded.

"He'll have to wait here. I checked, no one's around here and the guards rounds have moved onto another section. He'll be safe; trust me. Now lets get moving." She pulled me forwards by my shirt collar and we were off. I briefly glanced to Bentley who had parked is wheelchair against a tree. Ramona was right, he'd have to stay then we'd meet up with him after we were back on the outside.

There was still something about Ramona that was making me uneasy. I'd seen her sneak around thousands of times, always taking her times, watching where she stepped, usually crouched to avoid being spotted, and always looking around. Now, she was in a hurry, tying to get this over with, making noises, and keeping away from me. It was obvious she was still angry with me and the yelling match we had in the hallway. That and the fact that I had hung her by her belt loops yesterday didn't help anything. I of course felt guilty of yelling at her right after it was all said and done but she could hold onto things forever then finally snap later. I knew I'd feel horrible that if I found out later if the fight between the two of us ended up making her snap a few months later and I needed to talk to her and clear things up and soon.

"You're still mad, aren't you?" I asked after she took another short break to look around.

"I'm not mad, I'm frustrated." She grumbled, "I've got things I need to do and the last thing I want to do is talk about it, Cooper." I couldn't help but sigh. She was still overly angered but the worst part about it was that she didn't want to talk about it.

"You can't keep things bottled up, Ramona." I said as I placed a paw on her right shoulder. She head snapped to the side and I watched as she looked at my paw and then met my gaze. There was something in her eyes that made me uneasy. There was something dark hiding behind them and it wasn't her normal look. She pulled her shoulder away and pulled me forward again. We continued in silence and after thinking I'd decided to try and sort everything out after we returned to Paris. She stayed in the lead as we continued through the woods. We were getting closer and closer to the basement entrance as the time passed and Ramona was starting to move faster. She ducked and weaved through the trees and I stayed on her tail.

"There's the opening," she said after we had reached the east side of the castle, "can you squeeze through there?" I crouched and looked at the basement door. It was small but I could get through easily.

"Yeah, it'll be easy. I'm going in, you stay here and keep watch." I got ready to dive in when she pulled on my shoulder.

"I'm going in there with you." I shook my head. I gripped her bottom jaw gently and looked her in the eyes.

"Stay here," I said firmly, "The last thing I need is for Cortex to get his hands on you again." I released her jaw and looked into the opening. It was dark quiet inside the lowest section of the castle. I was still crouched on the edge of the basement and the moonlight only gave limited illumination.

"I can't see anything, Ramona. There's nothing down there I can hurt myself on, is there?" I asked. Since the light was so bad, I wanted to be sure I wouldn't impale myself on something before I jumped down. I was replied with nothing but silence and I turned to find Ramona.

"Ramona?" I asked. I looked to where I had left her but she was no where to be found. I glanced in the other direction and the same happened. It wasn't until I felt her shoe press against my back and swiftly shove me down into to the opening that I realized she was behind me.

I felt myself slide down and land face first on the cement below. My thoughts were dazes as I tried to sort out what happened. I knew the shove was intentional; I just wasn't sure if it was out of anger or if Cortex had something to do with it. It finally clicked when I heard the heavy metal door shut behind me and the sound of locks locking on the door and it was apparent when Cortex had to be part of it. I glanced up to where the door was, or where I thought it was since it was still pitch black in here, and tried to figure things out. The sound of the industrial lights clicked and the room was soon bathed in yellow light. I then realized that this wasn't the basement, but instead it was the highest section of the Doomerator. Apparently, the door we had come in through was near one of hills so it looked like it was lower down than it really was. I stood up and looked around to see if Ramona was in the room as well or if she had shut me inside. I could see Ramona standing by the light switch and smirking.

"I told you I could get him back inside the castle!" she shouted to someone on the other side of the room. I glanced in that direction and groaned mentally when I spotted Carmelita. I had been outsmarted by Ramona, who still had to be under the spell of Cortex. It didn't make sense to me though; she didn't have the arm device on so there was no way he could have control over her…unless the mind control was permanent with or without a device.


	18. Chapter 18: The Confrontation

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_Well, now that this chapter's posted the story is starting to come to an end. I have about six more chapters to post and it'll be a wrap. But the good news is that I finally thought of a plot for the story I plan to post when this one is done. What I will do is on the final chapter of this story I'll post a small snippet of the new story as a small preview before I actually post the new one. I do know that it won't be a crossover but it will be related to the ending of this story. But until I get this finished, please read and review and let me know what you think!_

Chapter 18: The Confrontation

"You are so gullible, Cooper!" I shouted, "Did you actually think I'd gone back to you to look for help? Did you actually think I would ever need to look to you for you to help me?" I chuckled as I passed by the raccoon and towards my sister.

"How?" he questioned, "You don't have the arm bracelet." I chuckled again and slightly pulled up my pant leg, showing off the ankle bracelet I had the engineers build just after he had escaped from the castle with his friend.

"Leg bracelet," I mocked, "I had my team of engineers build them. They're smaller and aren't as noticeable, as you can probably tell." I smirked and released my pant leg. I turned to my sister and motioned towards with my head, "Go get Cortex." I ordered. She nodded and started towards the door. It wasn't until she was gone that Cooper started speaking again.

"Are you crazy?" he asked, "I know you Ramona and this isn't you." I sent him a glare and quickly strode up to him until I was standing nose to nose.

"You don't know anything about me, Cooper. My sister is your specialty, if I remember correctly." I narrowed my eyes even more than they already were and turned. I stomped to the panel that was linked to the now almost completed Doomerator. The only thing that was left to do was connect a few circuits and we'd be in business.

"I know more than you think, Ramona," I heard Cooper remark behind me, "And I feel more than you think." I couldn't help but laugh at his statements.

"No, wait, let me guess," I said through a break in my laughing, "you're going to say that you love me, right? I swear that's the oldest trick there is. You say some 'heartfelt' line, I snap out of my crime spree, realize I was wrong, then we go waltzing off into the sunset to live a happy life only to find out that you've turned me into the police. I'm not falling for it, Cooper." I watched as his expression froze and I had seen through his plan.

"No," he said, "I'm not turning you in and I never will. But you've got to stop doing this. All I want is the old Ramona back and not the iron fisted tyrant you've turned into."

"The 'old Ramona' was a weak minded person who'd fall for anything you told her, especially if it came from you. But let me tell you something, I'm not falling for anything from you anymore. I'm not falling for anything from anyone anymore and I'm my own person now. I don't need to be supported by anyone and I can take care of myself and that involves getting rid of the person who keeps holding me down; you."

"I was raised to never raise my paw to a woman," he warned, "but I will take you down, Bandicoot." I narrowed my eyes and flattened my ears.

"What are you going to do, Cooper?" I arched my back and stepped down the two small stairs in front of the control panel, "I _dare_ you to do something. I _dare_ you." I sneered and could feel a hiss start to form in my throat. I watched as he got ready to say something back but backed down.

"There's no need to dare, Ms. Bandicoot. I'll handle it." I settled down myself when I heard Cortex's voice behind me along with my sister. I stepped back and allowed Cortex and Cooper to banter while I continued with my work. I was pulled over to the control panel by Carmelita and we talked.

"Everything's set with the Doomerator. As soon as we get the go from Cortex and Nina, southeastern Australia will be ours and then the domino effect will be a go. Coco and Penelope, or whatever her name is, finished working on the brain this morning. We're so close!"

"Great," I mumbled, "Now please tell me we have a few more bracelets ready to go. After their conversation is done I'm putting an arm clamp on Cooper then we'll roll out. And you're sure everything is ready and operational. I'm talking about guns, I'm talking about turrets, I'm talking about bombs, bullets, plasma, electrodes, everything?" Carmelita nodded, "Good." Sly and Cortex were still bantering as I turned my attention to the plans my sister had just spread out.

"Look, the two of us, Cortex and Nina are going to be in here," she motioned to the room we were standing in. I had led Cooper into the head of the Doomerator which was also the control center, "Then everyone else," she was talking about Cooper's gang and our siblings, "will be out in front of the Doomerator and each will have their mutant to ride on. Behind the machine will be the rest of other workers and mutants that we have control of. Granted this thing only moves twenty miles an hour, and that's pushing it, but it does damage. We have automatic gun turrets mounted in the front and back and around the clock surveillance with armed guards everywhere. There's no way we can loose." We both smiled at the though of our planning finally being put to use and succeeding. The only thing that stood in our way was Cooper.

"Which reminds me," she continued, "I need you to tell me who's wearing the masks. We have six masks so we need six people to wear them. Whoever does will be the six who lead."

"Alright," I said as I thought. I strolled over to the two round windows in the Doomerator head which was supposed to resemble eyes, "Put one on Sitka and make him the first one in line. Slap one on Crunch and another on Crash. We need a technical one in front so send Charlotte out there. That makes four but make sure they wear the elemental ones, that's vital. As for the mask of the good and the mask of the bad," I paused and thought about what to do with those two, "Put one on yourself and give me the other." Carmelita nodded and we got ready to put our plans into action when things took a turn.

"Fox! Bandicoot!" I heard Cortex shout. We turned out heads and I could spot a furious Cortex and Cooper start to back up, "Take him down! Do you hear me? I want him dead! Go! Now!" without hesitation, we both were crouching, hissing, staring out target down, and ready to pounce as soon as we were given our signal. Then, with a snap of his fingers, we were bounding on all fours towards Cooper and determined to fulfill our orders, even if it involved murder.


	19. Chapter 19: Back Against the Wall

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_Alright, here's chapter 19! The story ends in six chapters and then I start on the somewhat sequel to this story. But other than that, that's about al the updates I have so please read and review and let me know what you think!_

Chapter 19: Back Against the Wall

I split from the room as soon as Ramona and Carmelita crouched. I knew that as long as they were under the control of Cortex, they would kill me. I had gotten halfway down the hallway when I could hear the two of them catching up quickly. Carmelita was in front of Ramona but both were covering ground quickly. We were the only people in the hall and everything would have been silent if the two sisters were snarling as they charged. Unfortunately, they were running on all fours instead of only two which made them run twice as fast. I would have to think for myself on this one. Everyone on my team was also under the control of Cortex and Bentley was still outside, hopefully. The only way I could get out of this would be to get signal through my earpiece and to his but I was doubtful it would work. However, I was willing for anything to happen that could get me out of this. I slid around a corner and could hear the two females slam against the wall briefly before chasing after me again.

"Bentley!" I shouted into my earpiece, "Bentley! Please tell me you can hear me!" I could hear another snarl behind and I only ran faster.

"Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear," he responded, "What's going on in there?"

"No time for that," I huffed as I ran, "Listen, are you inside the castle?" I could briefly feel and pair of claws scrape against my ankles and I kicked my foot as a reflex. I heard a yelp and I realized I had just rammed my heel into Carmelita's nose. Guilt briefly passed through my head until I could tell they were catching up.

"Yeah, I'm right above the control panel for the bracelets. Need anything?" I started going faster and I talked.

"Destroy that machine or something! I've got Ramona and Carmelita on my tail and they're set to kill! Alter their course or something! And hurry, please!"

"I'm on it, Sly. Just hold on for a little bit longer." We disconnected and I kept running.

"Why are you running, Cooper?" I heard Carmelita's mocking tone behind me.

"We just want to talk," Ramona's voice followed in suit, "Why don't you take a breather, Sly?"

"That's a nice invitation, Ms. Bandicoot," is said after rounding another corner to the left, "but I'm going to have to pass." I heard a growl from behind me.

"You see," Ramona growled from behind, "I don't take rejection that well. Now come here!" she shouted. This of course only made me run faster. I could only hope Bentley could hurry with getting rid of that machine or at least call of the two ladies behind me. I bolted down the hallway with Ramona and Carmelita flowing behind me. They were starting to gain on me and I needed a way to push them back. I still had my belt on that had everything I used in the field. I felt around and noticed I had one smoke bomb left in its pouch. I only had the one but it could buy me time. If I could get far enough ahead of them, I might be able to sneak up or down and ladder without them noticing.

I held the smoke bomb tightly in my paw and waited for the perfect moment to throw it. I looked ahead and noticed a utility ladder that went up to the next level. If I could take that up without the two behind me, I'd be in the clear. I glanced back and could see the fox and raccoon and that's when I threw the bomb to the ground. There was a small explosion and the hallway was quickly filled with a thick, gray smoke. I could hear Carmelita start coughing but not Ramona. I didn't think too much on it when my paws connected with the rungs of the ladder but everything clicked with I felt claws sink into my leg. It registered in my mind that Ramona had to have seen what I was planning on doing and clung to the walls for protections; either that or she was a heavy smoker which I highly doubted. She pulled me off the ladder and I felt my back hit the ground. I looked up and could see Ramona getting closer and I had no other choice but to swing my cane at her legs. I felt her bones smack against the cane and her yelp only confirmed the fact I'd get beaten for it later. Either that or killed.

I scooted away and quickly got to my feet and started running away from screeching raccoon. While Ramona was busy trying to get the vibrations from her shins, Carmelita was starting to gain up on me again. She was running like she normally did when she chased me and her boots pounded against the floor. I was running out of both places to run and breath. These two were obviously not going to give up any time soon but I couldn't last much longer. Usually, I could run for a few miles before having to stop but when Ramona pulled me off the ladder, it knocked the wind from my lungs. The lack of air to my burning lungs was starting to slow me down and it was only a matter of time before the two caught up with me.

"I've almost got it, Sly!" Bentley's voice rang in my earpiece after I rounded a final corner and quickly realized this hallway ended in a dead end. I groaned mentally and silently prayed that Bentley could disable it in time. Ramona was back on my tail now and I was getting closer and closer to the dead end.

I groaned when I slid to a stop and I still had the cop and thief chasing behind me. I turned around and got ready to be forced to fight them off but I was pulled to the ground before I could do anything. Instantly the two were hovering over me and I had to put my cane up to keep them from snapping my face away. Both females were snarling and snapping away at my face. They leaned their weight against the cane and their paws pressed against the metal. They were so close I could feel the heat from their breath along with the smell of mint from their gum. The strength in my arms was slowly starting to get weaker and weaker as the two females pressed all of their weight onto my cane. Growls were slipping out from their throats as they kept snapping and their faces were getting closer to mine. I did have to admit, their teeth were sharp and it would be simple for their canines to slice into my neck with ease. One well placed bite from either of them and I would bleed out in a few minutes. Their snarling was as constant as a police dog on the attack and they were just a vicious. They managed to press my cane against my neck so now breathing was become troubled. I only had a few more moments before their teeth sunk into my neck and I still had no word from Bentley. The heat from their breath was constant and beads of sweat were starting to form wherever they were breathing.

"I've got it, Sly!" Bentley shouted and I sighed happily when their violent snapping stopped. They were frozen in place but I still had my cane pressed against my neck, "Now, I'm setting them on Cortex. We've got them back on our side, Sly!" I only had to wait a few more seconds before air was allowed back into my lungs and I could breath easily once again. Ramona and Carmelita stood up fully and glanced to each other. The nodded briefly and took off down the hall and towards the control panel. I stood up and sighed.

"Thanks Bentley. So what do we do now?" I was still sucking in my breath and I could hear the two sisters run down the hole.

"Get back down here and help me blow up the Doomerator base before they get this things in motion!" I practically yelled.

"I'm on my way," I said before taking off down the hall again. I could only hope that Ramona and Carmelita could keep themselves out of trouble until the mind control base was destroyed and we all had the old cop and thief back. Then, after this was all over, I had something very important to say to the both of them.


	20. Chapter 20: Out the Window

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

Well here's chapter 20! Despite what I said earlier there are only going to be three more chapters after this before this story's finished but I'll post the first chapter of my new story not long after chapter 23. I'm actually really excited about the new story and really like the story plot for it. I won't give too much of it away but I will put a small snippet of one of the chapters on chapter 23 of this story as a little preview. But until then, please read and review and let me know what you think!

Chapter 20: Out the Window

I peered around the corner of a wall quietly while clutching my cane tightly. After Bentley had sent Ramona and Carmelita off to go after Cortex, we had decided to blow the two separate machines. The one that controlled the Doomerator and then the one that supplied power to the mind control bracelets. Bentley thought that it would be a simple matter of placing a few charges on the bases of both machines and set them off. The only hard part about it would be to make sure there was no one in the way of the blasts and making sure that Cortex and his niece didn't escape in the process. We were hoping that Inspector Fox and her sister could keep them distracted or at least in the building and couldn't get away while we blew up the machines. One of the many things I was worried about was making sure that Ramona and Carmelita themselves didn't get into too much trouble or get themselves killed while we pulled this off. But when this was all over, we could all go home and things could return to normal.

"Bentley," I whispered into my earpiece, "Where are you?" I heard cracking and static from the other side but eventually found a signal.

"I'm on the other side of the room," he muttered, "I found some explosives that should be able to blow the gears off those machines. We'll need to go after the Doomerator panel first; they're only a few minutes before they start that thing up. Then after that we can go for the mind control panel. We'll get everyone out then they can go where they please."

"Sounds good, so what do I do?" I finally spotted Bentley on the other side of the room and I also saw the two machines we were seeking to destroy.

"I'm going over to the Doomerator control panel and I'll start placing charges. You need to go to the mind control panel and keep an eye on it. If something falters in it and your two lady friends turn back on us we'll never get this done. That and the possible brain damage they might have from switching it back and forth." I signed off and took another look around before slinking off to my destined machine.

I looked over the control panel and was amazed at how many different switches, lights, buttons, a keyboard, and sliders could fit on one hunk of metal. I spotted a list of names on one side along with a switch connected to it. I glanced over the names and noticed it was each a member of Ramona's family and my team. Each of the sliders was set to a different setting and each had a specific color assigned to it. Along with that there were other settings assigned to each person; for example their jobs within the power pyramid and social standing within the pyramid. It was obvious this was a very delicate piece of machinery and the inner workings were far beyond my comprehension. I was sure Bentley would be able to blow the power on both machines before time ran out. I glanced to my friend as I thought of this and realized he was almost done setting the charges. It only took a few moments before Bentley gave me the signal to back up and get ready for the explosion. I did what I was told and Bentley was next to me in a split second. He pushed a button on his wheel chair and explosive charges went of instantly. The machine fizzed, cracked, and exploded and power in the machine soon died.

"Is that it?" I asked when everything had settled. Frankly, I had been expecting a bigger explosion but instead it was rather small, which was perfectly fine with me which kept me from having to escape from certain death later.

"Yeah, now all we have to do is turn off the arm devices before blowing the machines or the mind set might become permanent." I nodded and decided to keep watch while Bentley did whatever he needed to do. Everything was quite until a raging voice sounded over the intercom.

"Cooper!" I recognized the voice as Cortex's, "You destroyed my machine and lost me my servants!" I could only assume he meant everyone that had been under his mind control, "I'm not beaten, but you will pay, Cooper! Do you hear me? I will make you pay!" I knew that he'd make this come true but I didn't know how, but he would.

"Alright, Sly, we're good over here!" and with that, we both split while Bentley allowed the final machine to explode. Like the first one, it wasn't too powerful but it was powerful to singe the fur from my body. Heat radiated from the explosion and Bentley and I made quick cover. After everything was said and done, Bentley split off to find the rest of the gang, the Bandicoot's, and the Fox's while I stayed here to be sure everything stayed secure. I sighed happily as he left and realized the only thing I had left to do was get everyone out of here safely, talk with Ramona and Carmelita once we were in Paris, and everything could go back to the way it was. With nothing going on at the moment, I took the time to take a well deserved break. I yawned, stretched, and used my cane to scratch the middle part of my back while I waited.

"Oye, Cooper!" I heard Carmelita's voice behind me and I looked in the direction of her voice, "Do you know how to get blasted thing off of me?" she scratched at her arm clamp and chuckled to myself.

"It's nice to see you too, Ms. Fox." I motioned her over and started to unlock the clamp on her arm.

"Don't start, Cooper." She warned but the smirk on her face gave her away. I pulled the metal ring off her thin arm and she took it from me. I watched as she looked it over before hurling it out the nearest window. The glass shattered after the hunk of metal went though it and she quickly nodded.

"That takes care of that. Now all I have to do is find my sister and I can get out of here." My eyebrows knitted together at her comment.

"She's not with you?" Carmelita shook her head.

"Nope, we split and now I can't find her." I was ready to reply when a few blasts of a gun, stomps, and a scream broke through our conversation.

We both looked at each other with a look of question on our faces until the security door in the back slid open. After the door opened and I realized what was going on, it seemed like everything was going in slow motion. Two bright blue blasts zoomed through the door and impacted the floor before a frightened and screaming Ramona came running through the door. Directly behind Ramona was Cortex and Nina, both riding in large spider machine hybrids and both were set on eliminating Ramona. She dodged bullets left and right and she was running out of places to run. I felt horrible that I could only watch as bullets were rained down Ramona without mercy and I was pretty sure this is what Cortex meant by making me pay. I could see the fear in her eyes as she fled from her enemy. She twisted and turned to avoid being shot by Cortex and his niece and she was running out of options. But she did find an option, one that make my heart jump into my throat and my stomach felt like it should loose my lunch. I watched in horror as Ramona had no other choice but heard for the window smashed by Carmelita and jump out to the cold, solid ground almost thirty stories below.


	21. Chapter 21: Hanging By a Thread

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_Well this story is finally starting to come to and end. Two more chapters and this story will be completed! I am excited that I fulfilled my goal and made this my longest story but I have to admit, I'm ready to move on to a new story. But I do have the storyline for my new story ready and I'll try to post it soon after this story is done. But until then, please read and review and let me know what you think._

Chapter 21: Hanging By a Thread

As soon as Ramona jumped out of that window to escape from Cortex I knew she wouldn't survive; there was no possible way. She jumped through a window thirty stories above the ground, she had no type of parachute, she was too frazzled to possibly grab onto the side of the building, and the only thing that could break her fall was the thicket of trees below but they were too close to the ground. I knew that if she was even lucky enough to get to the trees, the limbs would snap at her weight, cut her up, and then she'd smack to the unforgiving ground and die. I felt sick as I thought of what would happen to Ramona but then I could start to feel the anger start to rush through my body when I glanced to the two people who had caused her certain death; Dr. Neo Cortex and his niece. Those two had taken away the one woman I cared for with every fiber in my body and simply tossed her out a window. I had so many things I needed to tell her, but now I couldn't. I needed to tell her how I truly felt about her. I knew, and just about everyone else knew, that ever since I had first met an adult Ramona almost two years ago on a heist, I had been attracted to her. Now, almost two years later, I knew it was a lot more than just a crush on a pretty face.

She deserved to know how I felt. I wanted, no, I needed to tell her that I loved her. And I knew I should have told her before, before any of this had happened and before the tensions had started between Ramona and Carmelita. But now it was too late to let her know anything. I couldn't help but replay the scene of Ramona jumping out of that window for her life and probably already knowing she'd be jumping to her death. I felt like I had been punched in the chest with a metal pipe at the thought of never being able to see her again, talk to her, steal things with her, confide in her, or kiss her ever again. I temporarily shook the thought of the woman I loved dying and replaced it with being dead set on getting my revenge on the two people that caused her death. I clutched onto my cane tightly and was ready to beat the snot out of the two scientists until Carmelita decided to do that for me.

"No one ever, _ever_, hurts my sister!" she practically screamed before pulling out her recently found shock pistol. She placed her finger on the trigger and fired. Shot after shot after shot was fired at the scientists until the gun had been emptied. But that didn't stop a furious Carmelita. She quickly reloaded her gun and emptied her gun again. Every blast of blue electricity went from the gun and hit somewhere on both people and the mutated animals they were riding on.

I watched as the two fell to the ground, unconscious but alive. Carmelita snarled and replaced her gun. She stormed to the unconscious forms on the ground, grabbed them by the back of their shirts, and pulled them into the corner and handcuffed the both of them to a pipe on the wall. I followed her as she quickly ran over to the window Ramona and jumped out of and looked down towards the ground. I looked down as well and felt my stomach turn upside down. Yes, there were trees below but they were so close to the ground it wouldn't have helped her fall. She had to have fallen to the ground, I was certain of that. She wasn't clinging to the side of the building and there wasn't a dent in the trees, or not one that I could see. It was eerily quiet both inside the building and outside in the open air. I glance out of the corner of my eye and the look on Carmelita's face told me that she was thinking the same thing about her sister.

"I have to go find her. She's my sister I can't just leave her out there." She turned quickly and ran out the door and started heading down to the ground. I sighed and looked back out the window and silently prayed that Ramona was still alive; despite my true feelings.

I pulled out one of my paragliders and perched myself on the windowsill. Like Carmelita, I wasn't going to just leave Ramona down there. I didn't know if she was dead or not but I had never left her in life threatening situations before and I wasn't going to start now. I swiftly jumped out of the window and waited until I was halfway to the ground before deploying my paraglider. I silently and slowly drifted to the ground and landed on the edge of the woods. I tossed the used paraglider to the side and looked along the edge of the woods. It was completely silent and there wasn't even a tweet from one of the many various birds in the trees. I was going in there and I was going to find Ramona, but I dreaded it. If Ramona had smacked the ground like I believe she did, then I didn't want to see her crumpled form on the floor of this man made Hell. Ramona had fought most of her life to stop this man and his reign of terror from continuing and now it was looking like he had come out on top.

It didn't take long for Inspector Fox to meet me at the edge of the woods and stay silent. We both looked at the trees, bushes, vines and other random plant life before deciding to split up to look for Ramona. I branched off to the left and Carmelita went to the right and we were determined not to leave until we found the missing raccoon. I still dreaded what I would stumble upon while looking for Ramona but I wasn't giving up. She didn't deserve to be left in the place she hated with a passion and I wasn't going to leave her here and neither was her sister. I stepped over logs and through plants while searching through the plant live. It didn't take long for Carmelita to call out stating that she had found her sister.

"Cooper! I found her!" I quickly made my way to the officer but my stomach was churning at the thought of having to look at a deceased friend. The first thing I noticed when I arrived on the 'scene' was the fox, staring off into the distance with a gloved paw over her mouth. I cautiously walked up to her and braced myself before looking in the same direction as the fox. I looked to the side and my heart sunk at the sight.

My eyes landed on Ramona, completely unmoving and silent. As she fell, she had apparently triggered one of the homemade animal traps Carmelita and I were stuck in a few days ago and now Ramona was hanging upside down by her foot. She was suspended by the rope, a few feet off the ground, and the only movement she made was caused by the slight breeze that had started up and was now making her swing slightly. Her arms hung past her head, her tail did the same, her un-matching eyes were closed, and her lips were slightly parted. I heard Carmelita sniff and she quickly wrapped her arms around my chest and bury her face under my arm to avoid looking at her dangling sister. I placed my arms around her shoulders and looked over Ramona a few more times. She looked like she was simply sleeping but I knew otherwise. Deep in my heart I knew she was in a permanent state of slumber and we couldn't get her back.

I lost track of how long we stood there but it was for a while. It wasn't until a bird squawked in distance that we decided to get her down from the tree and take her home. Carmelita decided to let the rope down and I would be the one to gently lower her to the ground. I waited until Carmelita had loosened the knot formed in the trees before reaching up and grabbing Ramona's arms so I could place her on the ground. I walked backwards with Ramona in my grasp while her sister lowered her down. I supported her back as she became closer and closer to the ground. Her feet gently touched the ground and I slowly and gently placed the rest of her body down as well. I crouched down and looked at her again. Her face was filled with cuts from the glass and smacking against various tree limbs as she fell to the ground. I brushed her bangs away from her face and stood. I walked back over to her sister and ran a paw over the back of my neck.

"What are we going to do with her?" I asked after she met my gaze.

"I don't know," she sighed out, "We'll have to carry her out of here, get her back to Paris, and put her next to my dad. I know that'd make her happy." I nodded and placed a paw on her shoulder. It would take a while for Carmelita to get over her sister and despite my feelings I had for Ramona, I'd try to help her through it.

We stood there and talked about our plans about what we would do with Ramona until I could hear shuffling behind me. I turned behind me and could almost feel my jaw fall to the ground and my eyes pop out of my head when Ramona, who I though had died, was sitting there stretching and clutching the back of her head. The only thing that made sense in my mind what that the animal trap stopped her from killing herself on the ground but she had to have hit her head on her way down, simply knocking her unconscious. She finished funning a paw through her fair before glancing up to us. She shot us one of her usual smiles and waved.

"You have got to be the luckiest person I've ever met, Ramona. You know that?" her sister called out to her sister. Carmelita was right; Ramona was the luckiest person I've met. She's the only person I know that could fall out of a thirty story window and survive by the threat of a rope. There wasn't anything I wanted to do more than go up to Ramona, hug her, and let her know how I feel but I wasn't going to do it in front of Carmelita. With the current tension between the two, the last thing I wanted was cause more tension. I'd wait until we returned to Paris and then when we had a chance to be completely alone without any interruptions, I'd let her know everything from how I felt about her to how I planned to show it.


	22. Chapter 22: Twisted Hearts

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_I'm almost done with this story! One more chapter and I can call it a wrap. Like I've said before, I'll post a preview of my next story in chapter 23 and try to get it posted as soon as I can; I just have to think of a title. And I know this chapter is short but I'll try and make the last chapter longer. But until then, please read and review and let me know what you think!_

Chapter 22: Twisted Hearts

I inhaled deeply as I sucked in the cold night air of Paris. The moon was shining brightly in the distance, the sky was clear, and I was in the mood for a run. I hadn't gone out for a thieving run in over two months and I was itching for something exciting to happen but not life threatening. I let the cool breeze rush though my fur as I took off down the moonlight streets. I hadn't planned on stealing anything tonight, but just take a long needed trek through the city. I always loved running though a city at night. It gave me time to think or just get a good layout of the city. This time, I was going out to think. Before I left Australia to come home, I had briefly talked with Sly and he told me that he needed to talk to me privately when we got back to Paris and there was no telling what he walked to talk about. I could never figure out what would pop into his brain and there was no telling what he would actually say. He said some of the most ridiculous things sometimes but I did have to admit, they were usually somewhat romantic. I also couldn't deny the fact that I had feelings for him. I had no idea if he had feelings for me, my sister, or both but I was sure of my own feelings.

I've never had good luck when it came to relationships. I always seemed to find the ones who were self-centered, they cheated, they were just straight up jerks, in the relationship to benefit themselves, and sometimes I was the rebound or a combination of all of them. But Cooper was different, he had respect for women and he actually treated me as if I was a person worth talking to. I also can't deny the fact that I did get jealous when he talked with Carmelita. It's not that I didn't love my sister or not want her to be unhappy but the fact that she has had everything handed to her on a silver platter her entire life, I figured it's my turn to be happy. I stopped running and decided to take a breather on the side of a building. I rested my back against the wall and breathed in more air. I exhaled and moved my bangs from my eyes. My ears perked when I heard talking from the roof of the building. At first, I was afraid it was and officer from the Interpol office until I recognized the voice as Cooper's.

"You know, tonight is a magnificent night to find romance, Ms. Fox." I had no idea if he was talking to my sister or not but his comment was already making my fur bristle with jealousy.

"As if you know anything on finding romance, Cooper. May I remind you that you are still single?" I heard my sister reply and I knew this wasn't something I wanted to hear but I listened anyway.

"Indeed I am Mademoiselle, but you are as well. However, that can be easily changed." I could see their faces smirking at each other.

"Oh it can, can it? Are you insinuating that you're planning on changing a relationship status or two before you go home this evening?"

"I might," he mused, "if someone can play their cards right." I felt my fur stand on end and a growl started to form in my throat but I kept silent and kept listening.

"Then may I ask who this person is?" I heard Sly chuckle at my sister's comment.

"Well," he said, "I won't give out any names, but I can certainly say she's only about, oh I don't know, about ten feet away." I could hear my sister giggle and I growled softly.

"Oh, I see what you getting at." Carmelita giggled again.

Figures, the moment I think I finally find a guy who cares for me he ends up going for my sister. Why is it that she has to take away everything good that comes into my life? For once, I would love just having something to myself but no, Carmelita has to take it away. For once in my life can't I have something without her ripping it from my grasp? She called me a thief but when it comes to things like this, she was a ruthless criminal. I growled loudly and violently knocked a trashcan over as I stormed out of the alley. Frankly, I didn't care if they heard me. They were probably too busy searching the inside of each others mouths to notice anyway. I huffed as I stormed down the street and headed towards the bridge on the outskirts of town.

I gave an inward snarl as I rested my arms against the side of the bridge and stared into the water. The reflection of the moon shimmered in the water and the outline of close buildings littered the edges of the river. I picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it into the water. I watched as the pebble sunk to the bottom and the water rippled in response. I shook my head and got up from the edge. I had a bad habit of not being to keep still when something made me upset and this was no exception. I needed something to do or something to punch. I balled my fists and huffed when I could hear the all too familiar scamper of thieving footsteps behind me. I already knew who it was and I was in no mood to talk with someone who had no problem toying with my heart. I felt something brush against my arm and I spun on my heels to face in that direction.

"I'm not in the mood, Cooper!" I shouted as I spun. When I looked, there wasn't anyone in sight but I knew he was around here somewhere. I growled defensively when I felt his cane grab a hold of my belt loop and spin me around. There wasn't anything that I wanted to do more than to punch him in the head but he stopped me before I had the chance. As soon as I was facing him, he pulled me forward quickly and I unintentionally shivered as his paws made their way to my cheeks and I was suddenly sharing my warmth with his.


	23. Chapter 23: Shut Up and Kiss Me

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions. I don't own any Crash Bandicoot characters; they belong to their rightful owners.

**Claimer: **I own all of my original characters.

_Chapter 23 is finally up and this story is over! But at the bottom in italics I have a chunk of my next story as a preview. So, please read and review this chapter and my preview and let me know what you think of both. Thanks!_

Chapter 23: Shut Up and Kiss Me

My heart pounded in my chest as I stood there, frozen, millimeters from my rival. I was confused and had no where to run. He gently held me by my cheeks and I could feel his breath on my face. My arms were down by my sides, also frozen, and I simply stood there while he made his move. Along with the streak on confusion passing through my mind, I also had a mindset of anger towards the man. Not thirty minutes ago he was making the moves towards my sister and now he was doing the same with me. I didn't know what to do, to be honest. I didn't want to run because I couldn't deny the fact I had feelings for him. But then again, I didn't want to give him and allow him to keep playing his games with me and my sister. I shuffled forward when his arm snaked around my waist and pulled me closer before placing his paw back on my cheek. I felt his thumbs slowly but gently against my cheekbones and I started to loosen up. I could feel my eyes start to close and I let my paws cling onto his shirt as we stood our ground. Eventually, my eyes opened and met his gaze as he pulled his lips away from mine.

"Can we talk?" he asked softly. I found myself slowly nodding to his question and kept my eyes locked to his, "I know you're mad-" I cut him off.

"Yeah I'm mad!" I said loudly, "You can't make a simple suggestion to save your life!" I tried to pull away but his paws gripped my by my waist and kept me from moving.

"Let me finish," he said calmly, "I know you heard me talking with you sister, but you didn't hear the entire conversation." He playfully tweaked my nose and I snorted.

"Don't give me that crap, Cooper. I heard everything you said." He shook his head a smiled.

"No you didn't, you walked away when you knocked over the trashcan and stormed away. Your sister and I talked a little longer after you left." I rolled my eyes at his excuse.

"Even if you did, you were still putting your moves on my sister. You basically asked her out and you can't deny it."

"If you had listened carefully, Ramona, you would have realized I wasn't talking about her." I scoffed and slumped slightly.

"Yes you were! I heard you! And stop laughing about it!" I slapped his chest.

"The first thing I told her was that tonight is a wonderful night for romance, right?" I nodded, "but did I mention any names?" I shook my head. "She said that I was single and I agreed, right."

"I guess." I mumbled and he continued.

"I told her she was single as well and also said it could be changed. Now, I didn't say with me, did I?" I shook my head, "Your sister is perfectly capable of finding anyone she wants, but not me. Now I also said that I had planned one possibly changing a relationship status, however I don't know how that'll work out now but I will change it, my dear, I can guarantee you I'll change it," he winked, "but I never made it clear who I was talking about, did I?"

"No, I don't think so," I lowered my gaze and could feel the heat start to rise to my cheeks.

"To add to that, I said I couldn't give any names but the woman I was talking about was only about five feet away, right? Now you and your sister were the only people near me, right?" I nodded again.

"But that still doesn't prove that you weren't talking about my sister, Sly." I retorted even though I knew what he meant.

"Then would it ease your mind if I just said it to you right now, looking you dead in the eye?" I nodded and met his gaze again. I felt his grip move from my waist and back to my cheeks and his playful look turned into one of seriousness.

"I was talking, and I'm still am talking about you, Ramona, _you._ Listen to me, Ramona and please listen to me carefully. Ramona I love-" he paused, looking for the right words to say and I quickly held my breath and hoped he'd say what I was praying and think he was going to say, "…I love being able to call you a close friend and I love being around you almost every day. And I don't want to loose that closeness we have and I don't ever want to loose that." I released my breath, slightly disappointed he didn't say the words 'I love you' but I figured it was a step in the right direction. I nodded and he gave a loose smile and I could tell he still had something he had to say but he wasn't going to say it.

"And for the record," he added, the playful twinkle returning to his eyes, "I have more feelings and respect for you than I do your sister." He nudged nose with his and I smiled.

"Well thank you," I mumbled, "Now shut up and kiss me." He smiled and pulled me into another kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck, his snaked around my waist, and after that I lost track of everything after that. Sure, he didn't say 'I love you' like I hoped, but with this one kiss, I could feel that he did.

"…_You've been telling me that things happen for a reason since Daddy died but I don't understand anymore! You tell me his after everything bad but I don't get it, Sitka!" I shouted while tears streamed down my face, "If things like that didn't happen everything would be alright! If Daddy wasn't killed then we would have had a normal childhood! If Mom wasn't the evil woman she was we wouldn't have been in the orphanage! If we weren't kidnapped and altered by Cortex, we would be normal and not a freak of nature! If we weren't altered then we wouldn't have had to live on the streets! We could have been normal, Sitka! We wouldn't need to be thieves!" yelling and I knew what I was saying, well, screaming, but I didn't think Sitka did. M y words were lost between me shouting and gasping for breath as I kept crying, "Look at Carmelita; she had the same childhood as us but because everything that happened to her wasn't as bad, she was successful! All her life she has had things handed to her! She has the looks, she had the brains, and she can have anyone she wants but instead she takes the one person I thought truly cared for me! She took him away and turned him into a cop! I don't have anyone to go to when I want to be loved anymore! Everything good in my life had been taken away from me and handed to her on a silver platter! It's not fair, Sitka! I can't take it anymore! I understand that you and Charlotte want to slow it down and do something else but I'm starting to have the same feeling and I don't like it! I've been a thief my whole life, it's the only thing I know how to do and I can't just stop but I have to! Now that he's a cop, they can outsmart me and they have! I have to resign as a thief but I don't want to, Sitka, I don't want to! But I don't know what to do anymore! My life is falling apart at the seams and I'm so confused! I don't know what to do! I don't know what to do!" I screamed and that was the breaking point for me. I fell forward and landed on my brothers' chest with a thud and he caught me as I kept crying. For the first time in my life, I cried in front of my brother…_


End file.
